A Change of Heart
by Thewitchofasgard
Summary: Loki made a surprise return to Midgard, and shocked all the realms when he invited a 15-year-old mortal to go to Asgard with him. What will become of the young girl? What will become of Loki? Will she be what it takes to change his life; to change his heart? [This fic will become a crossover with another fic, posted on my account but written by my brother]
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

[This story contains spoilers for: Iron Man 3; Thor: The Dark World; Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Spider-Man 2; Spider-Man 3; Fantastic Four; and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer]

It started out as a normal April day, just like any other, when it turned out my life would be changed forever.

I was late for my fifth hour physical education class; I had a pass, of course. I was the last person who would skip class. Señor D had needed to talk to me about my Spanish homework. There was only 20 minutes left of fifth hour, not nearly enough time for me to change and run outside for tennis, so I decided to just go outside and take a "no dress" for the day. I ran out the back door of the school to the tennis courts, my mid-length, dark brown hair with auburn highlights flying behind me, found my P.E. teacher, and prepared for the worst.

"Well, Ashley decided to come to class after all, did she?" My P.E. teacher Ms. Graham snapped at me. Some boys looked over at me and snickered.

I scowled at them and waved my pass at her. "My Spanish teacher needed to see me. Sorry," she took the pass from me, glanced at it, and crumpled it in her fist.

"You couldn't even be bothered to dress? You're lucky Emily is at a softball game, or she wouldn't have had a partner."

I looked around, and saw my tennis partner really wasn't there. Good. It's bad enough I suck at tennis, but having a partner that sucks is better than nothing. "Well I figured there wasn't enough time for me to change."

She smirked. "You figured. Sit down, and I expect to see you after school for your make-up." She motioned to the bleachers and stalked away.

I sat down on the bleachers and watched the seven tennis matches going on. My friends waved at me, and I waved back. Then, through the woods behind the tennis courts, I noticed a weird cloud group hovering above the neighborhood next to our school. The clouds were circling around in one area. It looked strangely familiar, but at the moment I couldn't place where I'd seen it.

Suddenly, I watched as the clouds opened and a white beam of light crashed from the sky. It was over in a second, and the clouds dispersed.

_That was..._ I thought to myself, _No, it can't be. But it really looked like it..._

I looked down at my P.E. class, and realized no one had seen the light. I tried to see through the woods, but the trees were too thick. If I focused really hard, I swore I could see a tall figure moving through the trees...

"Alright, next game! Rotate!" Ms. Graham shouted to the class. As they moved onto the next match, Graham glanced at me. "Ashley, what's wrong with you?"

I realized I was standing up on the bleachers. But now it looked like that figure was coming towards us, through the trees. "N-nothing," I said, sitting back down, leaning forward on the bleacher and pushing up my glasses. The figure was getting closer. I knew it wasn't my imagination now; it was definitely coming towards my class.

"Ms. Graham, is that a person?" I looked down and saw the girl closet to me pointing to the person in the woods.

Graham squinted through the cage surrounding the tennis courts. "Who's there?" She shouted to the person, causing everyone else to stop and look at who she was screaming at.

A man emerged through the tree line. He was tall, at least 6'2", and had on a long black coat with green and gold detailing. He was wearing a green shirt, black pants, black boots, golden armor, and a long green cape. He had shoulder-length, raven-black hair, greenish-blue eyes, and very pale skin. He also had a huge helmet with antlers curving up and back and he carried a tall, gold, pointed staff. I gasped.

He glanced at the cage around the tennis courts, and then ripped open the locked door with one pull. Then he nonchalantly strolled up to my class, who had gathered in a group, and were whispering and pointing at the strange man. He wore a smirk on his face.

"Well, are you not a funny little group?" He said with an accent that sounded British, but I knew better.

I jumped off the bleacher, knocking my backpack onto the ground, ran up to him, clapped my right fist over my heart, and kneeled. "King Loki," I whispered, and glanced up at him, "Welcome back to Earth."

He gave me a funny look, glanced around at my class, who were also confused, and looked back at me. "You- you know who I am? You know how to properly address Asgardian royalty? Wha- how is that?"

"I- well, it's a funny story, um, do you know about the movies about you and the Avengers?"

He flinched at the name. "I am aware of them. S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted your world to know about the superheroes, so they created the films. Idiocy, if you ask me."

"Hehe, yeah, well, I really love those movies, so I know all about all of you."

"Oh, and I suppose your favorite is my adoptive brother?"

I looked at him with the most serious look I could muster. "My favorite is you."

He stared into my hazel eyes. "Stand, child."

I stood.

"What is your name?"

I was surprised. "Ashley, sir. Ashley Johnson."

"Ashley. That is a lovely name. How old are you?"

I smiled to myself and looked down at the asphalt under my feet. "15, sir."

He seemed taken aback by this. After all, I was six feet tall. "And Ashley, where exactly am I?"

Quickly, I said, "Hydale High School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America, Earth."

He looked around. "I thought I told Heimdall not to send me to Midgard. Well, never mind that. Ashley, how would you like to go on a small trip?"

"Your Majesty?"

"I would like to offer to take you with me to Asgard. I would love to get to know you a bit."

I was extremely confused and flustered at this point. Apparently my teacher had had enough by now, because she snapped, "She is not going anywhere with you, you creep! And who wears those kinds of clothes anymore? It's 2014! I'm calling the cops," she grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away from Loki, but I shook away from her.

I looked back at him. "Your Majesty, I would be honored to go to Asgard with you."

He smiled. _Ugh, that smile,_ I thought, grinning a little. He started to turn away from me, but a boy in my class shouted, "Ashley, are you nuts? He's crazy!"

Loki inhaled sharply, and stepped around me and up to the boy. "You, child, is that what you think is wise to say to your king?"

"My king?" He laughed. "This is America! It's a free country!"

Loki smirked. He started to raise his staff, but I shouted, "My King, no!"

He turned to me. "Why not? He needs to learn to respect royalty."

"Yes, I agree completely, but there's no need to start any trouble."

Loki smiled evilly. "Is there not?"

"N-never mind. Just, don't. Please. Let's just go," I pleaded. Then I heard police sirens in the parking lot. _Damn it, Graham._

The police had the tennis courts surrounded in less than a minute. They were confused about the way Loki was dressed, but got over it quickly. They had the rest of my class file out of the court, but I stayed. "Sir, drop the staff and put your hands on your head. Miss, step away from him." One officer shouted into a megaphone.

Loki looked around at them, looked at the scared look on my face, and flat out laughed. "You Midgardians are so petty. Guns, you fools, cannot stop me. I am a God!" He took my hand and looked up at the sky. "Heimdall, open the Bifrost."

The clouds began circling around us, and a white light shot out of the sky around us. It sucked us up, and I gripped Loki's hand harder as we were pulled into space.

When we steadied, we were in a giant gold dome. As the walls finished spinning, I looked outside and caught my breath. Everywhere I looked, there were stars of every color, and in the distance I could see a huge golden city.

"What do you think?" Loki asked.

I said the first thing that came out of my mouth. "You guys really like gold."

He laughed a real, beautiful laugh. "Ashley, welcome to Asgard."

Behind him, I saw the Gatekeeper roll his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I followed Loki across the long Rainbow Bridge, taking in every single detail of the stars around us. Loki had offered to call for horses, but I didn't know how to ride a horse. So, we walked.

"Your Majesty, when you said you wanted to get to know me, what did you mean by that?"

"I want to know more about you. What do you not understand?"

"Well, why?"

"You... interest me."

He left it at that, and I didn't ask anything more. I realized we were already at the entrance to the city, and, with a wave of his hand, Loki opened the giant golden gates.

I gasped at the sight before me. A huge city, made entirely of gold, lay in a valley in front of us. Behind it, on a hill, was the Palace of Asgard.

"It's gorgeous," I whispered.

Loki smiled at me. "Come; let us go to the palace."

I followed him through the city, looking in shop windows and under tents at little street booths. As we neared the palace, I saw a huge arena off to the side of the main walkway. A crowd was filing in the front gates, and I wondered if there was a battle.

"King Loki, what's going on over there?" I pointed to the arena.

"Oh, Lady Sif is showing off again," he said it as if the thought annoyed him.

He led me in the front gates of the palace, which quickly closed behind us, blocking us off from the rest of the city. I followed him down another short walkway, with flowers on both sides, and in the front doors, and caught my breath again.

The foyer was huge, and, of course, made of gold. The ceiling was domed, and there were long hallways shooting off in every direction. Each pillar had very elaborate designs etched into it.

I followed him down a maze of hallways, knowing instantly I would get horribly lost if I was separated from Loki. He opened a large, decorated door to a huge, majestic throne room. Around the walls were ceiling-high, arched windows, and all around the room were more of the elaborate pillars. In the center of the room was a large, ornamental throne, and off to the left of it was a smaller, less decorated one. Servants were bustling around, cleaning, re-arranging the decorations, and doing other small chores. As soon as they saw Loki, however, they all placed their right fists over their hearts and kneeled. Loki nodded to them, and they went about their business.

Loki motioned to one of the servants, and I heard him whisper, "Find her a bed... No, set it up in my chambers... Yes, in the spare room... No, she will dine with me... Good, now go." Then he turned to me and smiled, and then motioned to me to follow him. He walked to the throne and sat on it, leaning to the right. He took off his helmet, set it on the floor, and motioned to me to sit in the smaller throne. Reluctantly, I sat down on the edge and folded my hands in my lap.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked after an awkward minute of him staring at me.

"You are an impatient one, child."

"I-I just... I don't know... I'm really awkward," I covered my face in my lap, giggling nervously.

He laughed. "What did you think of Asgard?"

"Oh, it's beautiful!" I sighed, picking up my head. "Really, I've never seen anything that lovely before."

His smile grew. "Not many people can appreciate the city's true beauty," he looked out one of the large windows. "You, on the other hand, can see this. I wonder why that is?"

"Probably because we don't have anything that nice on Midgard. Or at least, not where I live."

He looked back at me. "Yes..." He had a look on his face that showed he was deep in thought.

I looked around at the servants, who were all giving me funny looks. Then, there was a knock at the door. Loki said, "Enter," and a guard came in.

He kneeled, and then said, "My Lord, the warriors have returned from Niflheim."

"Send them in."

The guard left, and a second later three people I recognized came in- The Warriors Three.

They kneeled, and then Volstagg looked up and said, "My King, there is once again peace between Niflheim and Muspelheim. We arranged a treaty between the two..." He stopped when he noticed me. "Um, My King, who is that?"

"She is a guest. Pay her no attention at the moment. Continue."

Volstagg told Loki what happened on Niflheim, none of which I understood, all the while Fandral was winking at me and flashing me a dazzling smile. I could feel myself blushing, and tried my best not to giggle. It didn't work.

After about a half hour, The Warriors Three left. I also realized there were no clocks, and figured the Asgardians didn't have that technology. I wondered how they knew what time it was. They probably know how to read the time from the sun.

"You have a question, Ashley?" Loki asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Uh, well, I just wanted to know what time it is."

"Time is such a silly thing, really. Humans are always on a set schedule. We know to go to sleep when the sun goes down, and wake up when it rises."

It was then I realized my mom was probably at the police department, filling out my death certificate or something. The cops probably told her some weirdo vaporized me in gym class. Great. Just what Mom needs.

"Are you thinking of your mother?" Loki asked.

"Yeah. I didn't tell her I was leaving."

"The police will tell her."

I looked at him seriously. "They'll tell her I'm dead."

"You will not be here long," he assured me, and then began to ask me all kinds of questions about my life on Midgard.

At what I assumed to be five o'clock, a servant came into the throne room and announced that Loki's chambers were set for supper. Loki stood, and led me out of the throne room and through another short labyrinth of hallways. I tried to remember them; left, right, left, left, straight, right, last door on the left. I looked around as Loki opened his door: the door right across the hall had a small sign on it that said 'Thor'. Loki cleared his throat, and motioned me inside.

'Inside' turned out to be a whole apartment. The door opened into the living area, a neat little room with fancy green furniture and an oak dining table in the corner. There were five closed doors around the walls; two on the left wall, two on the right, and one big green door on the far wall. The table was set for two people with a small feast of turkey-at least, I think it was turkey-steamed vegetables, potatoes, and all other kinds of delicious looking food, along with a pitcher of a dark red liquid that I assumed I was too young to drink. I sat down opposite to Loki, and a servant piled so much food onto my plate it was crazy. I thanked him, and him and the servant that was serving Loki left the room, leaving us alone.

Loki began to eat, while I awkwardly poked at the potatoes with my fork. I kept having the feeling he was watching me, so I took slow, careful bites of food, trying to be neat. I went 15 minutes without drinking, but the turkey-thing was making my throat dry, so I closed my eyes and took a sip of the red liquid.

At first, I choked. It was really strong, and shockingly sweet. After another sip, however, it tasted pretty good. One thought kept running through my head, though, and that was, _I am too young to be drinking this._

After we ate dinner, me drinking two glasses of the liquor, I could feel how flushed my face was, my head was fuzzy, and I couldn't stop giggling. Loki was laughing, probably at how stupid I looked.

"Well, it is late, how about you go change for bed?" Loki pointed to the left door on the left wall. He smiled, said, "I have one last thing to attend to," and left me alone in his chambers.

I looked down at my clothes, and realized he had had me walking around all day in my Midgardian clothes. I had on a bright turquoise shirt, gray Capri-cut leggings, and blue-and-purple plaid converse shoes.

I went into the room he had pointed to, and found it was a little 12-by-15 storage room. There were shelves and boxes all around the walls, a little window on the far wall, and a cot set up in the middle. On the bed there was a long gray nightdress, an indigo robe, indigo stockings, and black knee-high boots. I quickly changed, surprised that the clothes fit, and went back out into the living area.

I felt really nosy, so I went and peeked into the next door on the left wall- a bathroom. I was actually amazed to see the Asgardians had indoor plumbing. There was also a big iron basin, which I assumed was a bathtub, and a smaller basin, which I assumed was a sink. In the corner was a pump and bucket.

After I used the bathroom, I went back into the main room. The big door on the middle wall I assumed was Loki's room, so I didn't go in there. I noticed the right door on the right wall was really a sliding glass door leading out onto a balcony. I went out, and saw it overlooked the entire city. I didn't think it was possible, but the city looked even more beautiful at night. There was a cold breeze blowing, and I pulled my robe tighter around me. Suddenly, I felt someone put an arm around me, and, startled, I looked up to see Loki looking out over the city.

After a minute of just standing there, his arm around me, he looked down at me and said, "Well, I think that is enough sightseeing for one night, yes? Come," he turned around and led me back into the apartment.

We bid each other good night and went into our separate rooms. I feel asleep before my head hit the pillow, and had dreams all night of Loki.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I woke up disoriented and with a splitting headache. _I have a really low tolerance level for alcohol,_ I thought. Rubbing my temples, I got out of bed and peered out the window. The sun made my head hurt worse. I went into the bathroom, took the bucket, filled the sink-basin with cold water, put my glasses on the floor, and stuck my head in. After a few seconds, I pulled my head up and put my glasses back on. Almost immediately my vision cleared and I could think straight. I looked around and tried to find something to dry my hair with. I went back into the storage room and grabbed my leggings. Just as I was wrapping my hair up with them, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" I asked, throwing my soaked leggings on the floor and letting my dripping hair fall on my shoulders.

Loki walked in holding a new outfit. "Good morning," he looked at my head. "Did you take a bath?"

"Um, no, I washed my face," I said, running my fingers through my tangled hair.

He smiled. "Here, some clean clothes for you. I will have one of the servants bring you some soap, if you like."

"Yes, please, thank you."

He left, a servant brought me soap, and I took a bath, and put on the dress he brought me. It was floor length and long-sleeved, and the fabric was so dark I couldn't tell if it was blue or purple. Wrapped inside were some fresh stockings which were dark blue. I pulled the boots back on, dried and brushed my hair as best I could, and went out into the hallway of the palace.

Miraculously, I found my way back to the throne room. Loki wasn't in there, so I started to explore the palace. I found my way to the front foyer, and went out into the palace grounds. I was a warm, sunny day, and I kind of wished Loki had brought me a short sleeved dress. Somewhere off to the left of the gates, I could hear a river, so I walked toward the noise.

I found a river, and the biggest garden I've ever seen. Between the palace and the edge of the grounds, there had to be at least a half an acre of just flowers. Beautiful, blooming flowers of every color, with the river running along the edge of them. There was a little sign in the ground, which read, 'In loving memory of Queen Frigga.'

"This was her garden," Loki said, leaned against a tree next to me, and I jumped. He stood up straight and took my hand, walking over to a bench by the river. We sat down, and he looked at me. "Ashley, I want you to know right now, you are welcome to stay here as long as you like, and you are welcome to leave at any time. I will not be upset. But I do not want you to feel as if you have to stay here."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. But, I love it here. I don't want to go home," I looked around at the beautiful flowers and trees. "This place is so much more exciting than Earth. I just don't want to be a bother to you."

"A bother? Dear, you are not a bother. I have had more exciting conversations with you in one day than with anyone in four months," He exclaimed. "I would love it if you would live here. I just do not want you to feel as if you must stay."

"Live here? Really?" I asked, surprised at the offer.

He squeezed my hand, which I hadn't realized he was still holding. "Yes, live here. I could clean up that room you are in and get you a different bed- unless, of course, you would like separate chambers," he looked at me expectantly.

"Oh, King Loki, I would be honored to live here! But no, you don't have to get me separate chambers; the room I'm in is fine," I smiled, and then suddenly had a thought. "Can I go back to Earth and let my parent know, and get some of my stuff?"

"Of course," he smiled.

"Thank you," I stood up, and started walking to the gate.

I walked through the city and down the long Rainbow Bridge. When I finally made it to the Bifrost, Heimdall was already standing in the middle of the dome, ready to send me off. He only pointed at where I needed to stand, and asked where I lived. I told him, and he pushed his sword into the mount, making the room spin faster and faster until I was sucked into space.

When I landed, I was in the middle of the tennis court of my apartment complex. There were some boys playing basketball inside the cage, and they screamed when the sky exploded. I just laughed at them and ran out the door and down the street to my building. I buzzed 204 on the wall and the speaker clicked.

I heard my mom's voice on the other end. "Who's there?" She sounded mad. She's usually sounded mad, though.

"It's Ashley, mom."

The door buzzed, and I went inside. Halfway up the stairs, my mom slammed our door open and stormed into the hallway.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" She screamed down at me.

"Nice to see you, too," I scoffed.

"Get up here," she turned around and stormed back into our apartment.

_Oh my gosh, this is going to be horrible._

I walked into the apartment and shut the door behind me. My parents and 12-year-old brother, Jeremy, were sitting on the couch, and my two cats were on the floor in front of them.

"Family meeting?" I asked, walking to my bedroom.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mom snapped at me. "You need to explain why you just vanished from school and then decided to show back up here."

I backed into the living room. "Well, Loki came to Earth, invited me back to Asgard, and I went."

"You thought it was a good idea to go with a complete stranger to another dimension?" My dad asked.

"_Realm_, and yes, if there's one thing I've learned from all the TV shows I've watched and books I've read, it's that if you get a chance to go to a strange place like this, you take it. When would I get another opportunity like this?" I asked as I walked back into my room. I grabbed a backpack and started putting extra underclothes inside.

My parents started to whisper to each other. I grabbed two notebooks, a sketchpad, and a handful of pens and pencils and stuck them in the backpack. I figured I shouldn't take any clothes, because they would stand out, so I went into the bathroom and grabbed my hairbrush, a handful of hair ties, a travel mirror, my toothbrush, toothpaste, and a bottle of lotion. Then I found some travel size containers of shampoo and conditioner from a hotel and grabbed a bunch of each. I slung the backpack over my shoulder and went back into the living room.

"Oh, and just where do you think you're going?" Mom asked.

"Back to Asgard. Loki has asked me to live with him, and I said yes," I said smugly.

At first, my family just stared at me. Then, Dad said, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"You, missy, are not going anywhere accept your bedroom. You're grounded," my mom said, standing up. She grabbed at my arm, but I pulled away from her.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I just feel like I should do this. This is a fantastic opportunity that most people can't even dream about being offered. I'll come back and visit," I said, realizing I was getting nowhere with her.

"VISIT? You'll visit us? You have school to go to, work to do, a life ahead of you, and you're going to throw that away for an alien?"

"If I can have a life with an 'alien', then yes, I will absolutely throw away school."

"Fine. You know what, just go. I hope you have fun. Have a nice life, Ashley," she said, walking away.

I was shocked. "That's it?" I asked.

"Yep. Goodbye," she said, with her back turned to me.

I could feel my face getting hot and my vision blurred. "Fine," I looked at my dad and brother. "Goodbye."

Jeremy was crying. "Don't go!" He shouted. He jumped up and hugged me.

I patted his back. "I'll still come see you. I promise," I said, pulling away from him. "Bye, then," I said, and then I walked out the door, down the stairs, and out into the parking lot. I looked up at the sky, whispered, "Ready when you are," and took one last look around the place I used to call home before the white light swallowed me up.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I went back up to the palace and found Loki and two servants reorganizing his chambers. They were cleaning the room with my bed in it. I stepped past them and threw my backpack on my bed.

"Were your parents okay with this arrangement?" Loki asked when he saw me.

"I don't want to talk about it," I whispered, wiping my eyes.

"Was there a problem?"

"My mom just doesn't understand. Nobody can understand," I looked at him. "You gave me a once in a lifetime opportunity. I had to take it. They don't get that."

"No, they do not. I am glad you decided to stay, Ashley," he said, smiling at me.

The next three weeks were pretty repetitive. We would eat breakfast together some days, other days he would already be gone when I woke up, and then I would go explore the palace. After a week, I was brave enough to go explore the city. After that, I went out there every day. I ate in the market, met tons of people, and went to the arena to watch the warriors training. Then I would go back to the palace a sundown, we would eat supper, and then we would just sit out on the balcony and talk. By the fourth week I was there, he knew more about me than I did. But he very rarely would talk about himself. Finally, I asked why.

It was midday, and we were in Frigga's garden again. We were sitting next to each other, just talking.

"Tell me about your school," Loki said, holding my hand. He did that a lot, which was nice. It always caused a deep tingling feeling in my stomach, though, and made me blush like crazy.

"I did last week."

"Tell me more."

I laughed. "There's no more to tell! Why don't you tell me about yourself? It's about time I got to know you a little bit, don't you think?"

He looked away from me, and then squeezed my hand. "Alright, I will tell you about myself. But from what you have told me, you know quite a bit already.

"As you know, I am not a son of Odin. I was born a Jötunn. Odin... kidnapped me from Laufey's castle when I was a baby. He raised me as his own son. But when he was about to crown Thor as king, I let a few Frost Giants into the weapons vault and ruined his big day. After Odin banished Thor, he revealed to me I was a Frost Giant. Well, you know what happens next. After Odin awoke, I faked my death and was trained by the Chitauri in new ways of fighting.

"I do not wish to talk about the failure I faced in New York. When Odin jailed me and Thor broke me out, I found another chance to escape from him. I faked my death again and returned to Asgard, disguised as a guard, and made Odin believe I was dead. However, this news, along with the death of Frigga and the war with the Dark Elves, was too much for him, and he perished in his sleep. I then disguised myself as Odin, just until Thor returned, and after he decided to stay on Midgard, I revealed to Asgard that I was their new King.

"At first, they were shocked at the news that I was alive. Then, they were angry. But, they eventually came to terms with the fact, and now I rule Asgard as their rightful King," he finished, not looking at me. I felt tears on my cheeks, and as I looked at him, I swore I could see a tear forming in the corner of his eye. He blinked, and it disappeared. He looked back at me. "Is that better?"

Of course, I knew most of this, but I still wiped tears off my face, and looked at my boots. "Communication..."

"Communication?"

"Communication is key. If I'm going to live here, shouldn't we have an open communication?" I looked up at him, and he stared into my eyes. Slowly, he nodded.

Loki sighed. A guard walked up behind him and whispered something in his ear. Loki nodded to him, stood up, and excused himself to the throne room. I decided to go out into the city. I walked out of the gates and went to the huge, circular arena. It was interesting to watch Sif and the other warriors training. I went into the spectators seats, looked for Sif, and sat in the front row nearest to her. She was training with the Warriors Three. She had begun to notice me watching her the last few days, and today she whispered something to the Warriors before turning towards me.

Fandral came up the stairs into the seats, walked up to me, and held out his hand for me to shake. "I don't believe we have been properly introduced," he said sweetly. "I am Fandral the Dashing. And you are...?"

"Ashley," I smiled, shaking his hand. He pulled me onto my feet.

"Ashley," he started to pull me to the stairs back down into the arena, "Lady Sif would like to have a word with you."

"Oh, um, alright," I said, shocked. I let him lead me down the stairs, as if I had much of a choice.

As we walked up to them, Volstagg and Hogun bowed and Sif shook my hand. I introduced myself.

"Ashley, where are you from?" Sif asked.

"Midgard, ma'am."

"What are you doing here, then?"

"Loki invited me to come, and I kind of moved here."

"Ah," she looked at Volstagg, who nodded. She turned back to me. "We have noticed you watching us train these last few days," she smiled.

I smiled and looked at my boots. "I think it's interesting to watch you fight."

"Have you ever fought with these sorts of weapons before?"

I looked at her suspiciously. "No, ma'am..."

"Would you like to learn?"

I was shocked. "Really?" I asked, thinking they were playing a joke on me.

Volstagg laughed. "You think we jest, child? Yes, 'really'! If you are going to sit here and watch us every day, you may as well do something!"

"Would you like to?" Sif asked again. "Of course, you do not have to, but..."

"No! I will! If you're offering, then of course I'll learn! I mean, I'll probably be terrible, because I'm really clumsy and out of shape, but..."

"We will fix that," Sif said, smiling. I thought she was happy there would be another girl fighting.

"What weapon do you think would suit her, Lady Sif? I was thinking, maybe, a sword?" Fandral said, handing me a sword. "She strikes me as a sword type of girl."

I gripped the sword with both hands and held it out in front of me. It was pretty heavy, and my hands were shaking a little as I held it. I turned it upside down and put the tip on the ground.

"Well, hold on!" Sif sighed. "She cannot fight in that dress!" She took the sword and handed back to Fandral, and then motioned for me to follow her. "I may have extra armor that will fit you," she said to me.

"Thank you, Lady Sif," I said. "This is really very sweet of you."

"It is no trouble," she smiled. "It will be nice to have another woman fighting."

We walked a short way into town, and into a decent sized house. I followed Sif through her very neat and organized living room, down a bare-white hallway, and into a bedroom. Sif had me sit on the bed, and she started to rifle through her closet.

She pulled out a red tunic, a pair of black leggings, and pair of short black combat boots. She handed them to me, and I changed into them quickly.

"They fit perfectly," I said, looking in a floor-length mirror behind her door. The tunic was slimming, and the boots were really cute.

"Yes," Sif said, already out in the hall. I followed her.

She rummaged through a closet in the hallway, and pulled out a bunch of random pieces of silver armor. Then she started fitting them onto me. There were shin guards, forearm guards, and a vest she fitted over my head that covered my whole torso, back and shoulders. After she got it all on me, it must have weighed 15 pounds.

"It's... a little... heavy..." I panted, trying not to fall over.

She laughed. "Not very strong, are you? We will build your strength. Let us go back to the arena," she walked out her front door, and I followed, with my dress and boots under my arm.

_I am actually going to be learning to fight with Sif and the Warriors Three, _I thought, dumbstruck. _How is my life suddenly this awesome?_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I stumbled through the palace, already late for supper, in pain and sweating. A couple of times I almost fell, trying to get back to Loki's chambers. When I finally found my way there, I crashed through the door without knocking and collapsed on the nearest couch.

Sif had thought it was a good idea to throw me into battle without warning, just to see where my skill level was. _That would be zero,_ I thought. I sucked. She had me duel Fandral, since he fights with a cutlass and it was close to my sword. I nearly impaled my own foot twice, and Fandral nearly cut my arm off a few times. Sif said that if I still want to learn, tomorrow she would start raising my endurance and strength levels.

"Ashley, what happened?" Loki exclaimed as I fell into his living room. He jumped out of his chair and rushed over to me.

"I- Sif- Eh..." I was still panting, and had no idea how to start this conversation.

"Sif?" he asked. "What did Sif do?"

"She, um, she said she would teach me how to fight."

"Oh?" Loki asked, almost not sure if that was good or bad.

"Yeah, well, I suck."

"Oh."

I smiled weakly, and then leaned down to undo the boots. I set them next to the couch with my other pair, cringed at the pain in my abs, and pulled the armor off my calves. I tugged the pieces on my forearms off, and then looked down at the vest and sighed. I sat forward on the couch and tried to pull it off, very aware of Loki sitting next to me, watching, but couldn't get it over my head. Out of nowhere, Loki looped his fingers under the sides of the vest, his fingertips brushing my sides, and, in one swift movement, lifted it off of me and set it on the floor.

"Thank you," I whispered, not looking at him.

"Come, you should eat," he wrapped an arm around me and lifted me onto my feet, and then led me to the table.

I ate something close to pasta, stretched my legs under the table, and started to feel better. After we finished, I excused myself to bed, and passed out, still in the tunic and leggings.

In the morning, I woke up slowly, in more pain than the night before, and I had the faint feeling I was being watched. Once my head cleared enough for me to think, I sat up quickly, immediately wishing I hadn't, and saw Loki sitting on the end of my bed. My heart nearly skipped a beat, and I must have jumped, because he laughed.

"Did I startle you?" He asked, putting a hand on my arm.

I rubbed my head. "A little," I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and winced. All my muscles screamed in pain, and I wasn't sure if I could walk.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright, but I can see you are not," he stood up and took both my hands, pulling me onto my feet. I swayed and he grabbed my arms, steadying me.

We walked, slowly, into the living room, him with his arm around my waist and me with an arm around his shoulder. I suddenly became aware of how good he smelled; like leather and smoke. I wasn't sure how that was possible, but he smelled like a fire, which was amazing. We sat at the table to eat, but instead of him sitting across the table from me, he sat right next to me. After I ate, I took a bath, tried to smoothen out my tunic, and went to find Sif to start my training. I couldn't stop thinking about how Loki suddenly started acted more friendly than usual. It was kind of nice, and I knew that was really stupid to think, but it was true.

I found Sif, standing outside the gates of the palace, and she smiled at me. "I thought you would not come back," she laughed, and I smiled. We started to walk away, and she asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I hurt. Everywhere," we both laughed.

"Well, it will stop hurting after a few days of exercise. For now, we are going to work on building your endurance. I think we should start with running around the city. How about, two laps?"

"Running..."

"Is there a problem?"

"Yeah... I don't run."

"How about jogging?" she asked hopefully.

"I'll walk."

"You are going to walk two laps around the entire city? That is more than 70 kilometers!"

"I'll walk."

"I will go with you, and we will jog," she said, leaning against a wall to stretch her legs.

I did the same, and glanced at her sideways. "You want to give me an asthma attack? I _can't_ jog. Seriously!" I exclaimed, because she had chuckled.

"You are a funny child!" She laughed, and then said, "It's better to jog, because your heart rate will increase..."

"Faster, and your Target Heart Rate zone is where you need to be for 30-45 minutes to lose weight," I cut her off, sounding like an encyclopedia article. "Yeah, I know, I'm in gym class."

"Then you are fine to run," she said, and suddenly took off down the road.

"SIF!" I screamed, took a deep breath, and ran after her. After a few seconds, I knew that I would never catch her, so I slowed to a light jog and tried to focus on breathing. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. I somehow made it one lap around the city and stopped for water. Sif was waiting right where we started.

"Was that two?" She asked.

"That was one."

"Did you really walk?"

"No, I jogged," I sighed, closing my eyes and jogging off to do my second lap.

This time, Sif paced herself next to me and started telling me battle strategies, and talked about who she had last fought in the arena, and about the warriors' last trip to Vanaheim, all the while I panted beside her. In no time we made it around the city again, and I thanked her. We agreed that I would jog twice around the city everyday, and after a few weeks I would probably build enough muscle to beginning actually fighting.

I walked back into the palace gates, my legs feeling like gelatin, and I sat on a bench in the Garden. For the first time since I had come here, the sky was dark and it looked like it would rain.

After a minute, I was tapped on the shoulder. I jumped up and spun around, and a very alarmed looking guard was standing behind me.

"I am sorry miss; I did not mean to frighten you!" He exclaimed, and I shook my head.

"No, it's okay; I just didn't hear you behind me," I smiled reassuringly, and he relaxed slightly. "What can I do for you?" I asked.

"The King would like a word with you in private, in the throne room, as soon as you are available," he said. I thanked him, and he left.

_How is the throne room private?_ I thought as I walked through the castle. I looked down at my wrinkled up tunic and leggings and sighed. _I should probably change before I go see him. _I walked back to Loki's chambers, into my bedroom, and changed into the dark purple dress, which had been washed and hung up on a hook on the wall. I found a pair of stockings on my bed, pulled on my boots, and walked back out into the hallway. I went to the throne room, knocked on the huge door, and waited. Loki called, "Enter!" and I walked in.

"Ah, Ashley, thank you for coming," he smiled, standing up to meet me as I walked up to his throne and curtsied. Laughing, he pulled me up, and shaking his head, said, "I already told you, that is not necessary," he turned to the three servants in the room and said, "Leave us." They bowed and obeyed, leaving us alone.

"What's wrong, Loki?" I asked, because he was acting strangely nervous and giddy at the same time. He smiled, and led me to sit on the throne to his throne's left, which I still did tentatively.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing is wrong," he said almost dreamily, which made me believe even more strongly that something was wrong. "I simply have a few questions to ask you, is all. Perhaps a story to tell. Is that alright?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. First, Ashley, do you know how difficult it is to run a kingdom alone?"

I frowned at him. "No, Loki, I don't, my country doesn't have kings. I wouldn't know."

"Well, it is proving to be most difficult. Even Odin, with his flaws, made it look simple. Usually, a king has a queen, or an advisor, at least, to help him with decisions. But I am alone," He stared out the window for a moment. Then he turned back to me. "Next question: what is your honest opinion of me?"

I blushed, and looked down at my knees. I didn't want to tell him my _honest_ opinion of him, but I also knew I couldn't lie to the God of Lies. So, I took a deep breath, and said, "Well, My King, in my completely honest opinion, you are more sympathetic and attractive than any person in any of the nine realms. You make yourself out to be a cruel and heartless person, when on the inside you are compassionate and caring. You feel like you were shunned out for your whole life, and for that you shun the world out. You want someone to understand you, and yet you don't let anybody," I stopped and looked up at him. I swore I could see a small tear forming in his eye, but he blinked it away. I added, "You also will not allow yourself to show any weakness, at anytime."

For a whole minute he just stared at me, and then, slowly, he said, "You can read people very well. But, you said, attractive?"

I was sure my face would catch on fire. He stared at me expectantly, but when I didn't say anything, he said, "Alright, next question: how old do Midgardians have to be to marry?"

I fell off the throne. I mean, I literally slipped off the edge of the seat and fell on the floor. Loki just stared at me, wide eyed and mouth agape, as I pulled myself shakily back up.

"Well, M-my King, it r-really depends on the situation... Uh-um... Some people have gotten married at really young ages... In other countries than mine there are arranged marriages and such... But, since, you know, I kind of dropped out of high school," it took a minute for those words to sink in. Me, an all A student, dropped out of high school. "It doesn't matter," I shook my head.

"Well, that is very good to hear," Loki said, not at all affected by my awkward stream of babbling, "Because I would like to ask for your hand in marriage."

My head was all fuzzy. It took a minute for me to be able to think or move, and then I slowly put my left hand on my right arm and pinched hard. I grimaced at the pain, and then smiled at Loki. "Are you sure you want a 15-year-old Midgardian as your Queen?" I asked in a sweetly flirtatious voice.

"I have not met anyone I would want more," he volleyed back in a voice that could melt butter.

"Loki, I accept your most gracious and fantastic offer," I announced, and his amazing smile widened.

"I will arrange the ceremony, then! I was thinking, maybe we should keep it quiet at first, let the rumor circulate, and then announce it publicly, Hm?" He was halfway out the door now. I stared at him, my jaw hanging open again, and I wasn't sure if I was actually hearing this. Before he left, he turned back to me. "Oh and dear? This does mean you will no longer be sleeping in a storage room," and he was gone.

The way he said that, and the way he was running around, made me almost certain that he was drunk.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The ceremony was short and sweet. Loki had gotten me a light gray gown, saying, "It was the closest we had to white." The vows were just like the old medieval ones, which was a bit strange, but really cool. He also kept his promise on me not sleeping on a cot in a storage room. Directly after the ceremony, he told the guards to hold all requests to speak with him for the time being, and we went back to his chambers- our chambers, he said- and we took the cot out of the extra room. He put it out in the hall, where the servants could take it, and took me through the huge, jade green, oak doors on the back wall.

His bedroom was as big as the living room, and gorgeous. The walls were all white, with gold finishing around the edges, and a gold-colored carpet. I had left my boots in the main room, and the carpet was soft under my feet. He had six bookcases, all full of books of all sizes, and two chests, along with a trunk at the foot of his king-sized bed. There were two nightstands in the corners of the room by the head of the bed. There were also two other doors. The bed was huge, with dark-green-and-black bedding, and big, fluffy white pillows. I sat on the edge and sunk down into it.

"You'll seriously let me sleep in here?"

He laughed. "You are my wife now! You are allowed to sleep with me."

The inappropriate teenage part of me threatened to burst out at that moment, so I didn't say anything. I put my backpack on the shelf on the nightstand to the left of the bed, and lay back on the pillow as far to the side as I could. It was dark outside, and I was exhausted, but I knew I was going to be too jumpy all night to sleep.

"Where is your nightgown?" Loki asked, rifling through a sad little line of clothes on hangers hanging from the doorframe of his closet.

"Um, I think one of the servants took it to wash it," I got up to look with him. The closet door was to the left of the bed. He said the other door was another bathroom.

He sighed, and then went into the giant walk-in closet. He came back out with a light pink nightgown and handed it to me, and I stared at it, then back at him.

"What?"

"Why in the name of sanity do you have a pink nightgown in your closet?" I asked, maybe a little too sarcastically, because his pale cheeks turned a little pink.

"Does it matter?"

"'I'm your wife now,'" I said mockingly. Then I shoved his arm playfully. "Yeah, it matters!"

"It does not. If you will excuse me a moment," he said, leaning over and brushing my hand with his soft lips, "I have something to attend to quickly. You should get some sleep, though," and he swept out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I flopped onto my back on the bed and covered my face with my hands. Then I got back up, changed into the random pink nightgown, and blew out the candles on the nightstands- Asgard had very limited electricity, and Loki said either way he wasn't a fan of unnatural light. I crawled under the heavy black comforter, curled myself into a comfortable position, and tried to fall asleep.

I didn't know how long I had slept when I heard Loki come back in, but it was still dark outside. I felt the bed sink on the other side, and tried to fall back to sleep. It was pretty impossible.

"Darling, you can sleep on the actual bed, you know," Loki whispered sleepily, and I realized I was on the very edge of the bed. Slowly and carefully, I moved closer into the center, only going about two inches. Loki sighed a little, reached his arm around my waist, and pulled me away from the edge. "Better," he whispered. He turned over, and whispered, "Goodnight, dear."

I listened to his breathing as he fell asleep. Then I whispered, "Goodnight," and fell asleep again.

Three weeks later, after Loki had told me so much crazy information about the politics of Asgard I thought my head would explode, and I had been training with my sword with Fandral, and we had announced to the public that I was their Queen, so I was present for meetings and such, Loki added to the strangeness of the mix when he saw me reading one of his books.

"What is that?" He asked as he walked into the living room.

I looked down at the book, which was called, _Learning the Art of Sorcery._ "It's one of your books," I said, closing it. "I was bored."

"I figured you would take a walk."

"I just got back from a run," I said, twisting my tangled, wet hair around my fingers and scooting over for him to sit next to me.

"Do you want to try it?" He asked in a hopeful voice.

Confused, I asked, "What?"

"Magic. I can teach you," he picked up my right hand, rubbed it between his, and closed his eyes.

"Loki, according to this book it's impossible for Midgardians to use magic. We aren't strong enough."

He opened his eyes and stared at me. "Nothing is impossible, love," he whispered. He turned my hand palm-up and traced the veins on my arm. "What is your blood type?"

"Umm, A," I said slowly.

"I think I have an idea that may work, but it is risky," He looked into my eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

He reached into his coat and pulled out a small, sleek, black dagger. He held my hand open, brought it up to his mouth and kissed it, and then lightly dragged his dagger across my palm. I winced, and then he turned the sharp edge of the dagger to his own palm and cut himself, too.

"Ready?" he asked.

I nodded.

He put his palm onto mine and let his blood mix with mine. It was scary because his blood was thicker than mine, and I could _feel_ it mixing into my bloodstream. He held our hands together for about two minutes, then went and grabbed a cloth, and wrapped it around my hand.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked, looking down at my arm. The veins were all a darker blue than normal, and inflamed. My eyes widened.

He didn't say anything, but I felt him staring at the top of my head. After a minute, he said, "I am going to be late for a meeting. But, I will return soon, my love. You will be fine," he said reassuringly, lifting my head up. "I will see you soon," he said, and he got up and left the room.

I picked the book back up and continued reading. I was on chapter seven- "Concentration." It read:

Now that you know you definitely have powers, you need to learn how to use them. The key to using your powers is concentration. If you cannot concentrate, you will never be able to do anything. Some people choose to concentrate by taking deep breaths- in through the nose, out through the mouth. However you choose to clear your mind, just be sure it remains empty.

"This sounds like my health class," I said to the empty room.

I put the book down on the couch, stretched my arms over my head, and walked out onto the balcony. The air was warmer than it had been since I came here; it was kind of humid. _I wonder if it rains here, _I thought to myself. I leaned against the black iron railing and stared down at the city, the sun glinting off the golden rooftops. Loki had a small swing out there, so I sat on it, closed my eyes, rested my head on the back, and swayed the swing back and forth. I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, the sun had moved a little lower in the sky. I stood up, and suddenly became so dizzy I fell back onto the swing. I rubbed my eyes, and when I pulled my hands away I had to cover my mouth with my hand to suppress my scream. My hands were blue. _Blue._ Not the playing-with-paint kind of blue, but frostbite blue. As I stared at my hands, I saw the blue color slowly moving up my arms. The weird thing was that I didn't feel anything, and I could still move all my fingers.

Apparently there had been a servant inside cleaning because all the sudden one of the girls came running out the glass door to me. "Ma'am, what happened?" She asked, frantic. I just stared at her, then back at my fingers. She noticed and made a small squeaking noise. "Ma'am, I must take you to the healing room," she said, and helped me stand up.

I shook my head at her. "No, I need to go to Loki," I whispered, and walked inside too quickly, because I almost fell over again. The girl came running and caught me.

"No'um, you are sick, you must see a healer!"

I shook my head again, and walked to the door. Pulling my boots on, I said, "No, Loki will know what to do." Loki would know what to do. I was sure of it.

As I pulled open the door, she screamed, "My Queen, you are not well! Come back!" But I was already in the hallway.

Getting to Loki was the only thought in my mind. I stumbled down the hallway, bouncing off the walls, shaking and panting, and all the while, the only thought in my head was '_Loki will fix this. He'll know what to do.'_

I made it to the throne room, but there were two guards standing in front of the door. I stumbled up to them, now broken out in a cold sweat, and they crossed their swords across the door.

"I need to see Loki," I panted.

"Sorry, Ma'am, he is in a meeting. No visitors," One guard said in a gruff voice.

"I don't care!" I held up my arms. "_I'm blue! _You don't think he's going to care about that?"

The other guard looked at me sympathetically. "I am sorry, My Queen, perhaps you should go to the healing room. Here," he took my arm, "I will take you."

I shook him off. "No!" I shouted at him. "Let me in there!" I shoved into them with all the force I could muster and the doors pushed open. The guards stepped aside, and I fell onto the floor.

I looked up to see Loki, Sif, and Fandral all running across the room to me. The gruff voiced guard said, "My apologies, Your Majesty, she just shoved past us..."

Loki cut him off. "Darling, what is the matter?" He asked, alarmed.

I couldn't stop shaking. "M-my hands, they just turned blue, and it's spreading," He took my hand between his. "What's happening to me?" I asked, scared.

I watched as both of his hands turned the same shade of blue as mine. "Oh, dear," he whispered, letting go of my hand and helping me off the floor. He turned to Sif. "This meeting is adjourned for now. I have to get her to a healer," he turned back to me, put his arm around my waist, and let me lean into him. "Come, it will be alright," he said to me.

He led me up two flights of stairs and into a plain wing of the palace. By the time we made it there, he was practically dragging me, because I was so dizzy I couldn't walk. As we walked in, a group of healers bowed to Loki, noticed me, and started bustling around, getting supplies, tying on aprons, and other small things. One of them led me to a table and told me to lie down, while another made a golden replica of my body above me. The replica kept blurring out because I was shivering so bad.

"Dear, can you try to stop moving?" One of the healers asked in a sweet voice.

"I-I'm sorry," I said, "But I really can't."

Another one took the sleeve of my dress, which came to my elbow, and rolled it up to my shoulder. I looked, and my entire arm was blue.

The first healer said to Loki, "I am going to give her a light sedative, not enough to put her to sleep, but enough to help her relax and stop shaking. Alright?"

"Yes, fine," Loki said impatiently. He grabbed my right hand.

The healer had a syringe, and she told another to rub something on my arm. She told me to relax my arm, and then pushed the needle into it. The sedative almost immediately made my drowsy, and all my muscles went limp. My eyelids were really heavy, but I fought myself to keep looking up at the golden particles above me that had taken the form of my body again. Eight healers stood around me, and all of them simultaneously gasped in horror.

The one with the sweet voice, who I assumed was in charge, turned on Loki. "What happened to her? There is foreign blood in her bloodstream!"

Another healer asked, "My King, you did not try to mix your blood within hers, did you?"

"Yes..." Loki's voice was so small, it was barely audible. That scared me more than anything.

"W-what's wrong?" I whispered, barely able to open my mouth. _The healer gave me too much sedative,_ I thought.

Another healer, the one to the left of my head, looked down at me sadly and said, "His blood is too strong for your body, sweetie."

The first healer said to Loki, "Why? Why did you do this?"

"I- I did not know this would happen," he said. He looked away from the particles and to the healer. He whispered, probably so I wouldn't hear, "Will she make it?"

They turned away, but I could still hear them. "It's hard to say," the healer whispered. "There is a possibility her cells will overpower yours and she will be fine."

"What do I do?" Loki whispered.

The healer sighed. "Keep her comfortable, and hope she makes it through the night."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Loki had to carry me back to our room. He laid me in bed, and I burrowed under the covers, shivering worse than before as the sedative wore off. He sat with his back against the headboard, and pulled me up into him so my back was against his chest.

"I'm going to die," I whispered, tears filling up my eyes.

"Sweetheart," he started running his fingers through my hair, "I am not going to let that happen."

I laughed a little, and then sobbed into the comforter. He sat forward, and I turned myself so I was facing him, and he wrapped his arms around me. "The... The healer... said... I might... not make it..." I choked between sobs.

"You are strong. You will be fine, I know you will."

I buried my face in his shirt. After everything that has happened in the last two months- and I couldn't believe it had only been two months- I was going to die. Worst of all, nobody at home would ever know what happened to me.

Loki lay on his back, taking me down with him. I rested my head sideways with my cheek on his chest, and my feet hanging a little off the bed. He ran his fingers through my hair absently, and I felt myself relaxing. Every so often my eyes would drift shut, and I would snap them back open, afraid to fall asleep.

After the fifth time this happened, Loki finally said, "Darling, just go to sleep. Everything will be fine."

At this point, I knew my whole body had turned blue. He told me it was because his blood was apparently turning me into a Jötunn, which I didn't understand, but nevertheless, I was freezing. I couldn't stop shivering, and I knew all the blankets in the world wouldn't help with that. Every so often Loki would stroke my cheek, and when he took his hand away, his fingertips were blue.

"I- I'm scared," I whispered sleepily. "I don't want to."

"Ashley," he pushed my head up with his finger to look me in the eye, "Go to sleep. I will wake you up at the crack of dawn, and we will have breakfast, and then we will do whatever you would like all day. No consolations, no meetings, just whatever you want. But you need to sleep now. I promise, everything will be fine," He kissed my forehead.

I nodded and closed my eyes. My body was exhausted, and after a few minutes, my mind gave in to the demand of sleep. I felt my breathing steady, and drifted to sleep with one thought in my head- _Please let me wake up._

The sun was just staring to rise, casting a beautiful array of colors across the sky- yellow, pink, orange, purple, and a hint of blue. I opened my eyes slowly, momentarily disoriented at where I was or who I even was. Then I realized- _I was awake_.

I jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom, looking at my reflection in the mirror. The wide-eyed girl staring back at me was ghostly pale and grinning. I ran back out into the bedroom, and Loki was sitting up with his hand over his mouth.

"I'm alive!" I exclaimed. "And I'm not blue!"

"I see that," he whispered.

Then I realized something else- Loki was crying. There were honest-to-goodness tears in his eyes, and he was shaking a little.

I climbed back onto the bed and threw my arms around him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me tight, like he was afraid I would disappear if he let go. We sat there like that for a few minutes, until I felt his breathing return to normal. Then I pulled my head back and looked at him.

"I love you," I whispered, smiling, and suddenly I started laughing.

He started to laugh, too. "I love you, too," he said, and he kissed me on the lips.

We got dressed, ate, and Loki decided to take me to Vanaheim for the day. He said the berry trees were in full bloom, and the people always had a huge feast that they had invited him to.

The feast was lovely. The people of Vanaheim apparently all cooked, and they all specialized in one type of dish, which each person brought. There were berries of every color, and they were all bright and ripe. The food was fantastic, and after the feast there was a party. There was music, dancing, and a lot of singing. They really liked to sing.

Afterwards, we returned to Asgard, and my question from the other day about rain was answered- it was pouring. Loki used his magic to create a barrier over us so we didn't get wet, and we walked back to the palace. Back in our room, I changed quickly and feel asleep right away.

The next morning, I woke up to Loki shaking my arm. The sun wasn't up yet, and he hadn't lit a candle, so I couldn't see anything. I sat up quickly, afraid something was wrong, and slammed my head into Loki's face.

"Oh, gosh!" I jumped out from under the covers as I felt Loki sit on the bed. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart! Are you okay?"

"Fine, yes, I'm fine," he said absentmindedly, standing back up. "Quickly, get dressed. You're training begins now."

"Training?" I asked as he left the room.

I stood up, groped around blindly for the closet, and managed to find one of my dresses, which, with some difficulty, I put on. I threw on some stockings and ran out into the living room, which was just as dark as the bedroom.

"Is there any reason you won't turn on a light?" I asked the black room.

I saw a black mass move across the room, and started towards it, feeling in front of myself with my arms so I didn't hit anything.

"No," Loki said, "stay there. And yes, there is a reason it is dark."

"Okay..." I said, and I shuffled uncomfortably backwards a few inches.

"You remember I said I would teach you magic, yes?" He asked expectantly.

"Of course."

"You're training starts today. Now."

Then it made sense, why he put his blood into me. I remembered the book I was reading, that said, _Midgardians' minds and bodies are too weak to wield the magical abilities that some Realms' people can wield. _He made it so my body was no longer too weak.

I was speechless.

Loki's arms around me snapped me out of my daze, and I jumped. He laughed, and took one of my hands in each of his. He raised my arms, and pointed my hands palms-out in front of me.

"Concentrate. Imagine the candles flickering on, think of the flames coming from your fingers," he whispered in my ear.

I closed my eyes and focused on fire. I thought of flames flickering from my fingertips, and then felt my fingers warming. I thought of the campfires I always loved having, and then saw the room light up through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and every candle in the room- and there were at least 30- had a two-inch high flame burning on top. I gasped, and looked back at Loki, who released my hands and kissed me.

"D-did I do that?" I asked, amazed at the candles. Looking at one closer, I noticed the flames were green and blue, not orange. I touched the tip of one with my pinkie, and it dissolved. I spun around and looked at Loki, who just smiled at me with one eyebrow raised. Then the realization struck. "Illusions," I sighed, almost dreamily, and he nodded encouragingly.

"Yes, unfortunately, actually making the fire is very, very advanced. But illusions are basic. Oh, Ashley," he sighed, putting his hands on my shoulders, "There is so much I can teach you to do. I can show you how to duplicate yourself, create a copy of yourself in another place, even another realm, cloak yourself in invisibility, the possibilities are endless!"

I also realized something else: In my rush to get into the living room, I had forgotten to grab my glasses off the nightstand, and I could see perfectly fine. "Loki," I said, confused, "Why can I see? I don't have my glasses."

He smiled. "Jötunns have good eyesight; in a few days you should be able to see in complete darkness. Besides, it does not matter, you look better without them."

I was so excited I forgot to keep up my concentration on the flames, and they all flickered out. Standing in the dark again, with the sun starting to peek through the windows, I started to laugh, and hugged Loki. "Oh thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed. He laughed too, and patted my back.

During the next week, Loki and I trained day and night. We would wake up early, eat when the sun came up, then he would go to the throne room, and I would go run with Sif. Then I would go back to our room, take a bath, and head down to the throne room myself. I would practice off to the side while Loki tended to the people coming in to see him. He even taught me how to mask my sword in magic, so it was hidden until I called it to me. All I had to do was wave my hand in the motion you would swing a sword, and it would materialize in my hand. He did the same for my armor, so if I ever needed to go into battle, all I had to do was summon an illusion.

There were those rare times when Loki would have to run off to another realm or somewhere, and I would be left in charge of the throne room. Those would be the times when I felt like Loki teaching me Asgardian politics and giving me Queen's robes was actually worth it. The robes he gave me, which I made sure to wear whenever I went out in public, were a light, soft-spoken gray. They had silver armor on the forearms and a silver ribbon wrapped around the waist. I also had silver ribbons, which I twisted through my hair in two small braids on the sides. Then I would tie the braids at the back of my head, leaving the rest of it down so it fell onto my shoulders in cute curls with my highlights.

At first, the citizens were apprehensive to see me about their issues, but it didn't take long for almost everyone to warm up to me. Loki said I won them over with my charm; I laughed every time he said that. I could usually go out of my way to make people like me, if I really wanted to. I wouldn't call it _charm_, though. It was more like a good personality.

With a regular routine set, it was getting hard to tell how long I had been here. When what I thought had been two and a half months went by, Loki made a very _unusual_ request of me.

"You want to _what_?!" I asked, appalled at his request.

"I said, I would like to meet your family," he chuckled a little at my reaction.

"B-But, they threw me out!"

"Technically, you left."

"But she didn't care!" I shouted, crossing my arms over my chest. I was really glad we were in our chambers, because I probably looked like a five year old.

"I doubt that to be true," he chided. "In the morning, we will go to Midgard, for just a little while, I promise, and I will meet your family." Without waiting for my response, he looped his left arm under my knees, and scooped me into his arms, supporting my body with his right arm.

Giggling, I let him carry me into the bedroom. He tossed me onto my pillow, and I lay on top of the blanket, closed my eyes, and tried to fall asleep. It was hard.

I woke up the next morning and pretended to be asleep while Loki got dressed. It didn't fool him, though, because the next thing I knew, the blankets were on the floor, with me on top of them. I groaned, got up, and trudged into the closet.

I found a long magenta dress with short sleeves, cut at the elbow. I put on the short combat boots that Sif gave me, along with the footie socks I wore when I came- why they were still here, I had no idea- and I brushed my hair out over my shoulders. Looking at myself in the mirror, I knew I was going to have a heat stroke at some point in the June sun.

"Ready?" I heard Loki call from the living room.

I took a deep breath, nodded into the mirror, and called back, "Yes!"

We walked to the Bifrost in silence, and Heimdall sent us on our way. We landed in the middle of the tennis courts of my complex, and I felt my cheeks flush. I led him out of the cage, down the street, and up to my building. Before I could press the buzzer, though, I heard a voice from behind us that made both of us freeze.

"Well, well, well," she cooed, "Look who came back to Earth. And look, he's brought us back the girl! Thanks for making our job easier! Why, how did you know they would come back?"

Another voice, a guy's this time, said, "Oh, just a lucky guess."

The woman laughed a cold, heartless laugh. "Turn and face me, now."

Loki and I turned in unison, and we were staring straight into the faces of Maria Hill and two other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"If you surrender yourselves now, we won't have to hurt you," Hill said threateningly.

"That will not be happening, Agent Hill," Loki said calmly. "We do not come threatening. We are only here to visit her family."

"Oh, yeah, and when her family turns up dead..." One agent said, but I cut him off.

"Shut up!" I shouted at him. They all seemed shocked at my outburst, as did Loki. "Why the hell would I come back to Midgard to kill my family?"

"I..." Hill started to say something, but Loki grabbed my wrist.

"Come, Ashley," he pulled me around the agents and we started back to the tennis courts.

Suddenly, I was hit in the head from behind. I fell forward into the parking lot, ripping holes in my dress at the knees. Immediately, The Warriors' training kicked into my head, and I pushed off the ground, spinning as I did so, and landed smoothly on both feet, arms held out in front of me to defend myself.

Loki was holding his staff out in front of him, pointed at Hill, who was holding a radio in her hand. The other two agents had guns pointed at us. Hill clicked a button on her radio, and started to talk into it without taking her eyes off us.

"You will never guess who we have here," she said into the radio.

It clicked again, and a sarcastic voice on the other end said, "Oh, who, Sandra Bullock? Jessica Alba? Wait, maybe..."

The agents rolled their eyes at the radio and Hill cut him off. "Stark, this is serious! Get over here!" She hissed.

"Address?"

Hill looked up at the sign on the building, started to say the number, but Stark beeped back in. "Never mind! I got the GPS working. ETA 20 minutes."

Hill clicked the button, shouted, "You have 15!" and shoved the radio back in her pocket.

I looked at the agents and said, "Look, we don't need to start anything. We just came to see my parents, but if that's too much, we will go. You really don't need to assemble the Avengers or anything," I laughed nervously.

She just stared at me. Slowly, she said, "How... Do you know who we are, exactly?"

"You guys made the movies," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Shit," Hill shook her head. "Those things were a mistake."

"How exactly is Stark supposed to get from New York to Detroit in 15 minutes?" I asked.

"Take a straight shot over Lake Erie," Hill shrugged, like it was common knowledge.

"Can we please...?" I started to say, but Hill cut me off.

"You are not leaving," she said firmly.

"Then can you at least lower the guns from Loki's face?" I snapped at the men. Slowly, they lowered their guns, but not much, just enough that I saw Loki relaxed his posture slightly.

After ten awkward minutes of the five of us standing in the middle of the parking lot and staring at each other, we heard a loud whirring noise that sent a shiver up my spine.

The huge S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter lowered itself down, stayed airborne for a minute, and, much to my astonishment, _landed_ in the middle of my complex. The hatch on the bottom opened, a platform came down, and The Avengers came strolling out.

I looked around at the sliding doors of my neighbors' apartments. _How damn oblivious can you people be?_ I thought. Then I turned back to the Avengers, who had formed a line across from Loki and me. From left to right, there was: Steve Rogers; Tony Stark; Clint Barton; Natasha Romanoff; and Bruce Banner, who was a little further back, like he was ready to run back into the helicopter if need be. The three agents started to walk up the ramp.

Loki and I looked at each other, and then back at them. "Well, this isn't fair. Five to two? What exactly are you planning here, anyway?" I asked.

"Simple," Rogers announced, "You are coming with us, willingly or not is your choice, and we are going to rip _his _throat out," he glared at Loki.

I flinched, and growled, "You will not touch him." I pulled out my sword, but Loki put a hand on my arm.

"Sweetie," he said, "You are not strong enough to face all of them."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Stark said, shaking his head. "There's not going to be any facing anybody. You are going to come with us. Now," he went to grab my arm, and I jumped away from him. That was when all Hel broke lose.

Loki swung his staff at Stark, which caused the rest of the group to attack him. I managed to get myself into a sword-on-stick fight with Romanoff; where she found a tree branch, I had no idea. All I knew was that she was trying to impale my head with a yard-long stick.

Loki, on the other hand, had Rogers, Stark, and Barton fighting him. Banner was still standing off to the side like he really didn't want to be there. He probably didn't.

My slipup happened when I ducked away from the bullet I heard fly by my head. I jumped away from it, spinning around to see what happened, since it came from Loki's direction. Romanoff wasted no time in kicking me in the elbow, knocking my sword to the ground, and immediately causing it to dissolve. Before I could turn on her again, she grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back. I heard her say something to me, but it didn't register in my brain as I struggled to get away from her. Then I felt something sharp stab my left arm, and looked down to see her pull a syringe out of my shoulder.

"No!" I screamed, kicking her in the knee and falling to the ground. My head started to go fuzzy, and I crawled blindly away from Romanoff, my vision starting to go black. I held myself up shakily on all fours, swaying, and looked up in the direction of the fighting I could hear but not see.

"..L-Loki..." I whispered, and then passed out on the concrete.

_"I'm sorry."_

Those were the first words I could hear when I awoke. That's what Romanoff had said to me, before she sedated me.

I snapped open my eyes, was temporarily blinded by a bright white light, and tried to focus on where I was. The room I was in had two glass walls, one to my left and one to my right, and two plain white walls, in front of and behind me. I tried to stand up, but found both my hands shackled to the wall behind me. I was in an awkwardly slumped over position against a wall, with my legs stuck out in front of me and my arms bound at my sides. Then I realized that my dress was gone. Someone had changed me into a black tank top and black yoga pants, and I was barefoot. Having worn Asgardian outfits for two months, my arms being bare and wearing tight clothes made me feel uncomfortable and exposed.

"Okay, _that_ is really creepy," I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut and focusing all my strength on my arms. In one swift pull, I yanked both chains out.

I stood up shakily, leaning into the wall for support. I shuffled to my left a few feet to the glass wall. Looking out, I recoiled back at the sight; I was at least 70 stories above New York. I backed across the small room and right into the other glass wall. Peeking to my right, I saw a long white hallway. The same was to my left.

Looking back to my right, I looked up to the corner of the room and saw a little surveillance camera. I smiled at it, and said in my most innocently sweet voice, "Sorry about the wall, dear."

After a minute, I heard a click, and then the voice of Maria Hill filled the cell. "How on Earth did you do that?" She asked with genuine surprise in her words.

My smiled broadened. "That's my secret to know," I said.

Then the voice of Steve Rogers took over. "What are you and _him_ doing back here? He was supposed to be dead! That's what Thor told us!"

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "You think the Master of Illusions would really die that easily? The God of Mischief would give up just like that? You are hilarious!" I laughed, and even through the camera, I could tell I was pissing him off. "And that would be _King Loki_, to you, my dear."

There was a long pause after I said this, and then Stark said, "What about Odin?"

I felt my cheeks get hot, so I didn't answer. Instead, I said, "Where is Loki, anyhow?"

"Solitary confinement," Romanoff barked. "He's in a room with four-inch-thick glass. And if he even thinks about touching it, I will personally break every bone in his body."

I flashed the camera a dirty look. "Try it and see what happens, I dare you," I growled.

Romanoff laughed. "Oh, a 15 year old is threatening _me_? That's cute, sweetheart, that's really cute. Although, you did put up quite a bit of a fight back there. Who taught you that?"

"That would be the greatest warrior in all of Asgard, Lady Sif," I said, very proud of her.

She stopped talking, so I said, "Oh, and by the way, who's the creep that changed my clothes?"

"That was just me, Ashley. Calm down," Romanoff said, sounding bored.

I rolled my eyes again, and said, "Let me see Loki," even though I knew it wouldn't happen.

There was a chorus of laughter through the speaker that was so loud I had to clamp my hands over my ears. Stark shouted, "Fat chance, girl!"

I had a really strong urge to flip off the camera, but I didn't. Instead, I walked slowly back over to the other wall and looked down over the city. It was both a beautiful and a terrifying sight being up that high, and I felt my stomach sinking as I stared at the cars that looked like colorful ants.

After a minute, Stark said, "Why don't you look anything like your school picture? In here, your hair is all black and you have glasses on."

Without turning around, I sighed. "I got highlights in February, and I don't need my glasses anymore."

"How do you just not _need_ glasses? Are you wearing contacts?"

I smirked. "No."

"Did the Asgardians do some sort of magic thing on you?" A very confused Rogers asked.

I shrugged. "Kind of," I admitted, because it wasn't entirely a lie.

Apparently I upset them, because they stopped talking to me. I stared out over the city for another minute, and then Romanoff chimed back in. "Well, I guess if that's all the information you're going to give us, we'll just have to ask Loki."

I was pretty confused about what she meant, since she really didn't ask that much, but I went along with it and laughed at her. "Loki won't tell you anything."

"Not willingly," she said, and I spun around at the camera.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I shouted at it, immediately wishing I hadn't. One of the first lessons Loki taught me echoed through my head; _do not show any weakness to your opponent. Keep a confident expression on your face._ I knew I didn't look confident at all; I looked like a pissed off little kid fighting with his parent over candy.

"It means," she said in a sing-song voice, "That we have ways of getting people to talk. And if we need information, we can get it how ever we see fit."

The more she talked, the more I could feel my blood boiling. I wasn't sure I could just stand there much longer; I would probably break the camera. But I just stood in the middle of the room, hands clenched at my sides, trying not to do anything stupid, until I heard a collective gasp through the speaker, and Barton shouted, "What the hell is wrong with her?"

I looked down at my arms and realized that I turned blue again, which was weird, because I felt hot on the inside. _Okay, apparently I turn into a Frost Giant when I get mad, _I thought.

"Ashley, what happened?" Rogers asked, with genuine concern in his voice.

"Long story," I said, sitting cross-legged on the floor and trying to breathe deeply. It was really hard to do with the pounding of feet outside the cell.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Romanoff, Banner and Barton come running down the hall and stop outside my cell. Barton punched some numbers into the wall, and the glass slide to the side. The three of them came running in, and Romanoff went to grab my arm, but I jumped away from her.

"No!" I shouted, and she looked even more alarmed. "I'm sorry," I relaxed, "but if you touch me, I'll give you frostbite," I whispered.

"Come with me," Banner said, and the two spies looked at him like he had two heads. "What?" He asked them, "I want to do some tests on her. If that's alright with you," he said calmly to me, and I nodded.

I followed him into the hallway, and almost slammed into a person running towards me. I flattened myself into the wall just in time for him to run past, but he stopped right next to me, and stared at me in horror. My jaw dropped when I realized who it was.

I was staring into the face of my little brother.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

[Author's note- This is the point where my brother's fanfic, "A Life Thought Lost," crosses over into mine! I will be posting his on my account, so keep an eye out for it if you want a look at Jeremy's side of the story.]

"J-Jeremy?" I asked in horror.

"ASHLEY?" He screamed. "Why are you blue?"

"Long story. No, don't touch me!" I jumped back because he went to grab my arm. "I'll give you frostbite."

"Are you a... A Frost Giant?" He asked, horrified.

I stared into his light brown eyes. Quietly, I said, "Yes, Jeremy, I am."

He stepped away from me, and Romanoff said, "Well, you're one to talk, Mr. Chaos Fire Blast."

I looked between her and my brother and said, "What the hell does that mean?" Then I shook my head. "Never mind, I'm not sure I want to know." I looked at Banner. "Shall we, Doctor?"

"Yes, come this way," he said, and I followed him up the hallway, Romanoff, Barton, and Jeremy following us.

I fell in step with Jeremy, and whispered, "What the hell are you doing here?"

His face flushed a little, and said, "I sort of accidently got powers, and they brought me back here."

"How do you _accidently_ just _happen_ to get powers the exact day I come back to Midgard?" I growled at him.

"Ask your psychotic kidnapper, his minion did it to me! And did you just say 'Midgard'?"

By this point, we were in an elevator, going up to the 80th floor. I glared at Jeremy. "First off," I said, "He did not _kidnap_ me. I went with him willingly. And second, he doesn't have minions, so I don't know where you're finding that information."

Barton cut in before Jeremy could retort. "We just spent an hour fighting Frost Giants and ugly aliens, and you're telling us he doesn't have minions?"

"What?"

"After I knocked you out and got you on the helicopter, Loki took off and set a bunch of Frost Giants after us," Romanoff said.

I felt my stomach sink. Loki ran away when Romanoff attacked me? I shook my head at the thought, knowing he had to have a good reason. I looked at her and laughed. "They were probably just illusions! The Jötunns hate us; they would never team up with Loki, especially for something as petty as Midgard."

"'Us'?" Banner asked, but at that moment the elevator door open, and I stepped out stepped into a long hallway full of beautiful science laboratories lining both sides.

"Oh my gosh," I whispered breathlessly, staring inside the glass windows to a huge chemistry lab full of beakers of chemicals. Banner tapped me on the shoulder where my arm was covered by the tank top strap, and I snapped out of my daze. "S-sorry," I stuttered, pulling my gaze away from the lab. "I'm just a bit of a chemistry nut."

"Oh!" Banner exclaimed, sounding legitimately excited. "Fantastic! Do you..."

A voice over the intercom cut him off. It was Stark. "Bruce, please, do not start going on with science stuff with a prisoner. I don't even remember all of us agreeing to release her."

"She's not a _prisoner_; she's a 15-year-old girl!" Banner shouted at the ceiling. He walked down the hall, and I jogged behind him, realizing he was really the only person on my side. I wasn't even sure if Jeremy was.

We reached his lab, which was the biggest of all of them, and he had me sit on a stool while he pulled Petrie dishes and needles out of drawers. My skin had returned to it's normal color, so he took my arm, had me face my palm up, and rubbed alcohol on the inside of my elbow. He went to a sink and washed his hands, and then pulled on latex gloves and grabbed a needle. He didn't take too much blood. He carefully distributed a little bit onto two Petrie dishes, and then grabbed two small vials of clear liquid. Carefully, he squeezed two drops of each onto each sample, and watched them under a microscope. After a few seconds, he pulled away in surprise, and I jumped up.

"You want to see?" He asked, offering me the microscope.

I peered into it, and he put another drop of each liquid in each dish. I watched as the sample on the left dissolved, and the sample on the right seemed to explode. The red cells turned a dark shade of blue, and they grew.

"We seem to have similar DNA, Ashley," Banner laughed, and I smiled up at him, and then looked back down into the scope. The sample on the right was slowly turning red again.

"Wow," I whispered, just then realizing how screwed up my circulatory system had become.

I walked away from the microscope, and saw Romanoff talking into a chip in her ear. She kept looking up at me, and then whispering into the Bluetooth. Finally, she turned to me and stood up straighter.

"You need to come with me," she said, and then looked at Jeremy. "Both of you."

We followed her and Barton back into the elevator, with Banner trailing behind. Romanoff punched the number 92 on the wall, and the elevator shot up, making my stomach drop. The door opened, and we walked out into a huge living room, with a complete kitchenette against the wall.

There was a couch to the left of the elevator, where Hill, Pepper, Darcy and Ian were sitting and chatting. To the right, JARVIS had set up a huge circle of monitors, in the middle of which Rogers, Stark, and Jane were standing. Barton and Romanoff walked over to them, while Banner leaned up against the wall next to the elevator and motioned for my brother and me to follow them. We did, and I noticed some of the screens were showing live feeds of cameras throughout the Tower. I scanned them frantically, looking for Loki, but Stark stepped in front of me so I couldn't see. I crossed my arms over my chest and stood up straight and confidently.

"Where is he?" I demanded, and Stark shook his head.

"Why the hell do you think we'd tell you?" He snickered.

"Mr. Stark, I don't think..." I started to say, but he cut me off.

"First off, Mr. Stark was my father, if you're going to say anything, just call me Tony..."

"Actually, your dad never really went by Mr. Stark..." Rogers butted in.

"And second off," Stark- Tony, whatever- said, ignoring Rogers, "I will have no problem sticking you back in that cell, so watch where you're sticking that fake authority."

I glared at him, and then Rogers cut in again. "Would you like to explain to us how your little brother ended up getting powers the day you came back?"

I looked over at him. "I was kind of hoping you'd be able to tell me that. Remember, I was unconscious," I flicked my gaze to Romanoff. "Hey, I have an idea! Maybe," I drawled sarcastically and looked around at everyone, "Maybe Loki can explain it to us! You know, since it was his imaginary minion who did it to Jeremy," I glared back at Tony. "Where... Is... He?" I asked again, this time with a threatening hint in my voice. I felt a pang of guilt in my stomach for threatening the Avengers, but they were holding my husband hostage. I had no other choice.

Stark sighed, and then sidestepped so I could see the monitors. I scanned all of them, and a small squeal escaped my mouth before I could bite down on my lip. The picture showed Loki, slumped over on a bench in the corner, bound and gagged with deep red gashes on his cheek, chest, and arms, cutting long slits in his clothes. Half of his face was deep red, and it looked like it had been burned. His hair was disheveled, singed in some areas, and his coat was in a mangled heap on the floor.

I saw a little number in the corner that said '76', which I assumed was the floor number he was on. I spun around when I heard Rogers say something.

"What?" I asked, completely distracted on how I was going to get out of this circle and down to Loki.

"I said, your brother did most of that."

I looked at Jeremy, hurt, and he smiled proudly. I resisted the urge to slap him, and said to Romanoff, "Miss Romanoff..."

"Wow, you are sickeningly polite. Call me Tasha, please."

"Since when am I on a first name basis with the Avengers?!" I exclaimed, and then shook my head. "You know what," I threw my hands in the air, and then let them fall to my sides, "Never mind. Please," I stared at her, "Natasha, please let me see him. Five minutes," I looked back at the monitor and winced as he lifted his arms to wipe the blood off his cheek, "I just want to check on those cuts."

She sighed, and opened her mouth to say something when there was a deafening clap of thunder outside. Everyone jumped, but my eyes widened.

"Oh shit," I muttered, and watched as Thor walked in through the open glass door in the kitchen.

"Where is he?" His deep voice demanded, and then his eyes settled on me. "Is this the child he stole?"

"Dear gods, why does everyone say he kidnapped me?" I asked. I turned back to Natasha, and pointed to the elevator, flashing a pathetic smile.

She turned around and motioned me to follow her. Steve, Clint, Jeremy and I followed, and I knew Thor had to be behind us. I did not want to be in an elevator with him, but I bit my bottom lip and quietly channeled my magic into the circuits to make the elevator go a little faster. Everyone gasped in surprise as we shot downward, and I smiled to myself.

The door opened, and I pushed past Natasha and took off down the dimly lit hallway. She shouted after me, but with my head start, she didn't catch me until I was at the end of the hall. She and Clint were practically tripping over themselves to run down the narrow hall next to each other, and they luckily stopped just before slamming into me. I was too preoccupied with the sight before me to care, anyway.

It was even worse to see in person. Blood was mixed into his beautiful raven hair, making it stick together in odd fashions. Some parts of his shirt were completely frayed away, and the burn marks on the left side of his face were appalling.

"Who the hell decided to scorch him?" I tried to scream at them, but it was just loud enough for them to hear.

"T-that was me," I was shocked to hear my brother answer.

I turned to stare at him, and said, "What do you mean, 'it was you'?" I asked, both in disbelief and hurt.

"Those powers I told you about? I guess they include fire."

I turned back to Loki, and he was facing me, making the burns worse. I tried not to cringe, but I must have, because the sadness in his pained eyes worsened.

A tear fell down my face as I impaled my sword through the four-inch-thick glass.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The glass cracked in a spidery pattern around my sword, and I flicked it to the side, causing it to shatter into thousands of little pieces on the floor. Loki cringed, and I ran across the small cell to him. I slipped the tip of my sword between his wrists and broke the chain binding them together, and then reached around to the back of his head and untied the bandana in his mouth. I gingerly traced the cut running from below his eye to his chin, and turned around accusingly to my brother.

"Why the hell did you maim him?" I screamed at him.

"I burned him, I didn't cut him up!" Jeremy shouted back.

Loki made a small noise in the back of his throat, and I turned back to him, sitting sideways on the bench next to him. I took his hands in mine and looked into his eyes. "Sweetheart, what happened?" I asked quietly. He just shook his head, and I kissed his hands. I looked up at Natasha and said, "I need to take him to a medical room or something. He needs stitches."

"What do you know about stitches?" She asked.

"I don't," I said, feeling a bit stupid, and then said, "But I can't just leave them open."

"I don't care," she said flatly.

"Ashley..." Loki whispered, and I turned to him. "Don't worry about me. Go home, make sure everything stays in order," his voice cracked, and I shook my head.

"No," I said firmly, "There is no way I am leaving you here for them to do this to you."

"Two minutes," I heard Romanoff say.

"Shut up," I snapped at her. I looked back at Loki. "Asgard will be fine," I leaned against the window and looked up to the sky. "Heimdall, make sure nothing happens. Asgard is in your hands, good sir," I shouted up, and saw a quick flash of light across a cloud.

That's when Thor decided to butt in.

"I do not know what is going on here," he rumbled as he stepped through the shattered glass, and Loki jumped, "But where do you find your place coming back to my Earth after you decide to kill yourself, _again_?"

"Not now, Thor!" I screamed at him, and everyone looked at me, shocked. "Loki, sweetheart, come here," I stood up, and helped him shakily to his feet, leaning him into me for support. "Natasha, I am taking him to a medical room, I don't really care what you have to say. Where is it?" I said firmly, stepping slowly toward the glass so Loki would follow.

Natasha rolled her eyes and scoffed, and then turned on her heel and started walking back to the elevator. I waited for Thor to walk in front of us before I dragged Loki along. Clint stayed behind, which I could tell still made Loki a bit nervous.

We took the elevator to the 60th floor, and I took Loki halfway down the hall and into a bright white room. Thor, Steve, and Clint went back up to reunite with the others, while Natasha and Jeremy sat down in chairs by the door. I helped Loki onto the table in the middle, and started rifling through drawers looking for gauze. I found a huge box of gauze, a roll of medical tape, and some antibiotic ointment.

"Ashley, I will be fine," Loki said, trying to sound stronger than he looked and failing.

"Ha, no, trust me, I've had cuts like those before, and it's already getting infected. Take off your shirt," I said, finding a pair of scissors and a handbook on how to put in stitches. _Perfect, _I thought, and found a spool of thread and a needle in a drawer. I turned around with all the supplies, and nearly dropped them when I saw Loki's chest.

My brother had apparently run out of the room, out of fear or embarrassment, I had no idea, but even Romanoff looked away. The cuts on his chest were horrible; they were turning red around the edges. I looked at him, then down at the supplies in my hands, and realized I probably wasn't going to be able to do this.

I'm not going to make anyone sick by describing what happened next, but believe me, it was awful. I stitched up the cuts as best I could, and there were four on his torso, one on each arm, and the one on his face. He lay still the entire time, but I felt bad that I couldn't give him anything for the pain.

Next I focused on the burn on his face. I found a washcloth and soaked it in cold water, and then took Loki's hand. "I am so sorry," I whispered, and then lightly wet the left side of his face. He squeezed my hand so hard I thought he broke my fingers, and twice I had to stop so he would relax his face. When I had the whole burn wet, I went back into the cupboards and managed to find burn cream, which I applied lightly to his face.

Then, I played around a little with the rats' nest of hair on his head. I got another washcloth and soaked it in warm water, and then wet it down. Then I started the work my fingers through the knots, and managed to get most of them out. I used the washcloth to clean out the dried blood, and pulled lightly at the singed parts, realizing I was going to have to cut it to even it back out. I sighed sadly, not able to bring myself to do it. Still, I knew they probably weren't going to let me see him again, so I went to the counter, grabbed a pair of scissors, and gritted my teeth.

When I was done, I helped him sit up and stared at his mangled shirt. It was more a shredded green rag than anything else. He just shrugged a little at it, and Natasha stood up, signaling it was time to go. I created an illusion of a shirt on Loki, and helped him off the table. He was able to walk a bit better, but he still had to lean against me as we walked back to the elevator. Natasha took us back to the 76th floor, but to a different cell. Loki's coat was draped over the bench in this one, and he put it on and slumped against the window. Natasha pulled me back out of the cell and shut the door before I could say another word. I managed to mouth 'I love you' before she dragged me down the hallway.

We went back up to the 92nd floor, and I fell onto the couch and covered my face with my hands. I didn't move until I felt the couch shift next to me, and someone tapped me lightly on the shoulder. I put my hands in my lap and looked at Jane, who eyed me a little skeptically before seeming to decide I was okay.

"Are you alright, Ashley?" she asked politely, and I shook my head, smiling at her.

"You don't need to treat me like a broken kid. I'm fine," I tapped her hand with my fingers.

"I just watch you sew half of a God's chest back together," she said, and I shuddered a little, "I don't think you're fine."

I shook my head again, and then changed the subject. "Why do Asgardians fall for Midgardians, Jane?" I asked, staring out the window.

"What do you mean, 'fall for'?" I heard Thor ask behind me, and I stood up and turned to him, while the rest of the group turned to look at me.

I shifted awkwardly on my feet and stared at the faces before me. I noticed Steve and my brother were gone. Finally, I decided we couldn't keep it a secret forever, so I stood up straight and said confidently, "Loki and I got married."

Nobody said anything for a whole minute. Then, slowly, Tony said, "What the hell?"

I smiled at him, and then Natasha said, "Why?"

My smile dropped as I realized: I didn't know. I never even asked. "I- I don't know," I whispered. "I never felt the need to ask."

Thor shook his head. "How did my father allow him to return to Asgard without being executed? And to get married? Out of the question."

I stared at Thor sadly, and then Tony said, "Odin's not King anymore, is he?"

"I-I'm sorry, Thor," I whispered sadly, and Thor stepped forward at me. I stood my ground, and looked up at him over the couch. "He... perished in his sleep."

Thor grabbed my forearm and pulled me over the couch. I yelped as he twisted it backwards, and I struggled to get away, which only made him squeeze harder. "What did you just say to me?"

"Thor, let go!" I screamed, and used my magic to push away from him. He let go out of surprise.

"Why did nobody find me?" He asked while I rubbed circulation back into my arm. "Who has been ruling Asgard?"

"Loki and I," I said.

"No," Thor shook his head. "Loki is not fit to be king."

"What?" I asked, stepping back toward him. "Was it not you who said, 'Loki for all his grave imbalance understood rule as I know I never will'?" I laughed at the confused look on his face.

"H-How do you..." he started to say, but faltered.

"I'm sorry, Thor, I really am," I said again.

"Stop. Stop it now. The people of Asgard would never allow Loki to be their king. They would rebel, fight back, something! How," Thor was almost hysterical, "How did this happen?"

"Loki didn't really die in the Dark World, Thor," I said, and he stared at me wildly. "Trickster God, what can I say?"

"He is going to explain himself," Thor tried to step around me to the door, but I blocked his path. "Move, child."

"No. You are going to leave him alone, he does not need to be shaken up any more at the moment," I said firmly, and Thor shook Mjolnir in my face.

"Listen here, I do not care what lies Loki told you about you being a Queen, but you are not. He is not King, I do not even believe you are really his wife," He pushed my arm suddenly and I fell to the floor.

"We are the King and Queen, though!" I screamed at him, and he turned to me again. "Heimdall swore him in, and in turn gave me the oath."

"Why did Heimdall not call me back when they found out my father was dead?" He asked, and I didn't want to tell him the truth; that I thought Loki killed Odin.

I stood up, brushed off my pants, and looked up at Thor. I flashed him a signature Loki look when he's lying. "I don't know, he probably couldn't find you," I shrugged, and Thor turned away from me again.

Thor was on the elevator before I could react, and I did the only thing I could think to do; I ran for the stairs. Before I got there, though, Natasha had me pinned to the wall. I elbowed her in the stomach, but she was ready. She grabbed my arm and spun me around to face her, pinning my back to the wall.

"Let him talk to Loki," she said, and I shook my head frantically.

"If he does something, which one of you is going to go help?" I screamed at her. "You? One of them? No!"

"Calm down!" She shouted. "We'll be watching the whole time!"

I looked around Natasha to the monitors, which were all showing different views of Loki's cell. I watched Thor walk up and slam his fist into the glass. His mouth started to move, but there was no sound.

"JARVIS, turn on the audio," Tony said.

There was a click, and Thor's voice boomed into the room. "...says she's your wife! What have you done?"

Loki's cocky demeanor returned as he leaned forward. "I have been ruling Asgard the way it should have been ruled all along. The Nine Realms are running very smoothly," he inhaled sharply, clutching at his chest, and my heart ached for him. "And Ashley is a fantastic Queen. The people love her. She is so sweet and polite, and she listens to everybody equally. I have learned much from her."

"She is 15!" Thor exclaimed, and Loki chuckled a little.

"She does not act it. Many a time I have forgotten how young she actually is."

I smiled to myself. I relaxed my posture so Natasha released me from the wall, and then walked toward the monitors.

Thor shook his head slowly. "You are blinded. By what, I know not, because I do not think you capable of love, but you cannot see clearly."

_Whoa. Low blow, Thor,_ I thought, and even Loki looked a little hurt.

"You think you alone have a heart?" Loki asked. "Why is everything always that you are the superior, and I get whatever you do not want?"

Thor didn't answer. Instead, he said, "You will never sit on the throne of Asgard again, so long as I am alive."

"I can make it different," Loki said coolly, looking up at one of the cameras. I was sure he was trying to tell me to kill Thor. _Not happening, sweetie,_ I thought.

Thor turned around and stormed down the hallway, and Loki slumped back against the window again, holding his ribcage.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

After watching Thor's interrogation of Loki, I wanted to ask him the questions I had bottled up inside me over the past few hours. I knew they would never allow me to see him again, though, so I decided to take advantage of my magic. I asked Tony if I could use some exercise equipment, because I had missed my morning run, and he showed me to the exercise room on the 85th floor. There were more machines in there than double my school's fitness center. I thanked Tony, climbed onto a bike, and tried to focus my mind on the 76th floor.

I felt the weird sensation of my mind leaving my body, and when I opened my eyes, Loki was sitting next to me. He had his face in his hands, so he didn't see me appear. I made sure to channel my magic so I was only visible to Loki, shielded him from the cameras, created an illusion of Loki sitting alone as he was now, and then tapped him on the shoulder.

Loki jumped, clutched his ribs, and then his eyes lit up. He looked around at the five different cameras, and then back at me.

"It's okay, we're covered," I reassured him, and he relaxed.

"How much magic are you using right now?" He asked curiously.

"Quite a bit."

He smiled proudly, and I laughed a little.

"Why will you not leave, darling?" He asked sadly.

"I can't leave you," I said, and he smiled.

"Where are you actually?"

"Nine floors up, on an exercise bicycle," I said, and he laughed.

"Quite the multi-tasker, aren't you!" He exclaimed.

I looked away for a moment, my mind reeling with questions, but I was unsure which to ask first.

"What troubles you, love?" He asked, and I turned back to him.

"I have... questions," I said, and he sat up a bit straighter. "First; why did you take me back to Asgard with you in the first place?"

He looked taken aback by this question. Then, he seemed to really think about it for a minute. "I-I think it was mostly because of how intriguing you were to me. Never had I thought I would meet a mortal that knew how to properly address an Asgardian. I mostly wanted to know how you knew. Your next question is probably why I asked you to live on Asgard? Yes," he nodded, because I nodded, "That was because in one day of talking with you and getting to know you, I found that I could trust you more than I could trust anyone I had known my whole life. I wasn't sure how, but I had an intuition that you were different than other people."

I nodded again. "So... Why did you ask me to marry you?"

"Are you regretting your decision?"

"Gods, no! I'm just curious..."

"I jest, sweetheart! I asked, again, because I felt I could trust you. And I love you," he unconsciously reached for my hand, then remembered I was an illusion, and pulled back his hand.

"I love you too, Loki," I whispered, feeling an overwhelming need to both cry and touch him.

"Have you any other questions?"

"Yes, one; how are we going to get home?"

He looked at the floor sadly. "I do not know, Ashley. We will, though, we will go home."

A minute went by of me staring sadly at the choppiness of his hair, and him staring sadly back at me. Then, Loki said, "I have a question. Who is the annoying child who has been following you around, the one who did this to my face?"

I smiled and shook my head. "That's my little brother, actually."

"Oh."

"Yeah. How did he get powers? He said one of your 'minions' gave them to him, but you don't have 'minions.' Do you?"  
He looked confused for a minute, and then realization flashed across his face. "The rogue Chitauri. He had a machine that boosts powers. Your brother must have ended up inside."

I opened my mouth to say something else, but gasped suddenly instead. Loki stared at me wide-eyed, and I felt as if my head was being split in two. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. My vision went black, and when I blinked my eyes open, I was on the floor next to an exercise bike with Natasha and Clint kneeling next to me.

"Ashley, what happened?" Natasha asked, honestly concerned.

"What?" I asked a little dazed.

"We were watching the cameras and all of the sudden you fell off the bike," Clint said, helping me sit up. "What happened?"

I must have been so focused on all the illusions I was doing, I couldn't keep my actual body upright. I couldn't tell them I was with Loki; they'd never leave me by myself again. Instead, I rubbed my head and said, "I- I don't know. I got dizzy, and then the next thing I knew, here you are."

"Okay, that's enough exercise," Clint said, helping me stand up. I swayed a little, my head still feeling like it was going to explode, and he steadied me. "Let's go back upstairs."

We went back up to the 92nd floor; I sat on the couch and leaned my head back. I waited until my head stopped pounding before turning around to see what the others were doing. I noticed Steve and my brother still weren't there, but I really didn't care where they were. It was about time my brother stopped being overly clingy. That was one thing I didn't miss being with Loki, was my little brother tagging along everywhere I went.

Tony noticed me watching them and walked over to the couch, leaning over the back so he was level with me. "Before you say it, I am not letting you go back to Asgard, but is there anything I can get you in this world?"

I laughed lightly, and then looked at him curiously. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "Uh, okay, well, I could really go for a cheeseburger," I said laughing.

He laughed, smacked the back of the couch with the heel of his palm, and stood up. "That I can do! Let's go," he motioned for me to follow him to the elevator, hit the button to go down, and turned back to the room. "Anyone want to go for a burger?" He asked, and the others looked at him like he was crazy.

"Is that a no?" He asked after a minute of nobody talking.

Darcy and Ian looked at each other and shrugged. "What the hell," Darcy said, and they stood up. "Come on, Jane."

That's how I ended up in a burger joint in downtown Manhattan with the Avengers.

We took up two tables all together, and I ate the greasiest burger I have ever had in my life. It was delicious.

After we were there a half an hour, Steve and Jeremy walked in, and I groaned as my brother sat next to me. Then I noticed Steve's clothes were singed a little.

"Are you trying to scorch everybody?" I asked him as the waiter brought him a Pepsi.

"That wasn't fire, though," he said nonchalantly.

I put my half-eaten burger down. "Then what the hell was it?"

He smiled at me. "Lightning," he said as the waiter brought him a burger and he took a huge bite out of it.

I shook my head and picked up my burger again. I honestly didn't even want to ask.

After everybody finished, they paid, and I swore up and down to Tony I would pay him back for mine and my brother's food. He just kept shaking his head, but there was no way I was going to owe a debt to him, or any of them, for that matter.

We walked out onto the crazy street, and people parted around us, pointing and whispering excitedly about the superheroes. I felt them staring at me, probably because I was a normal looking person with the Avengers, and I held my head high. I was not going to show weakness to these mortals.

We walked through the double doors into the lobby and up the elevator to the 92nd floor. Tony offered my brother and I rooms, which I gladly accepted over being sent back to a cell. He took us down to the 55th floor and showed us to two rooms right next to each other.

Jeremy smiled at me, and I just scoffed and slammed my door shut.

I climbed into the queen sized bed, sat with my back against the headboard, and pulled my knees up to my chest. I looked around the little room. It was set up like a hotel room, with a nightstand on each side of the bed, a dresser with a huge mirror over it, a small closet by the door, and a little bathroom. With the furniture, it looked smaller than my cell. There was digital alarm clock on the left nightstand that read 7:45. I knew my brother's room had a TV because he was blaring "Adventure Time" through the wall. I smiled to myself, thinking about all the electronics I used to be addicted to. Honestly, I was amazed I had made it two and a half months without my phone.

I got up and went into the bathroom, instantly feeling claustrophobic. The room was so small that when I turned, I slammed my elbow into the door. I washed my face with the cheap soap on the counter and went back into the main room, climbed back onto the bed, and cried myself to sleep, wishing we had never come back to this stupid realm.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

After a few hours of restless sleep, I awoke, very confused. I was curled up in a field of flowers and soft grass, with the sun glistening off of a river a few feet away. I sat up, rubbing my puffy eyes, and looked around. I heard movement behind me, and turned.

Standing above me was Loki, but he looked wonderful. The gashes were gone, his face was healed, and his hair was completely even. I gasped a little, and stood up quickly, standing only a few inches from him.

I looked around us, and asked, "What's going on? Where are we?"

He smiled. "We are in Alfhiem, I believe. This is just a dream, sweetheart, our real bodies are still imprisoned, but I have brought our minds here."

I subconsciously reached for his hand, but stopped myself. "Am I going to break the spell if I touch you?" I asked sadly.

He took both my hands, and then leaned forward and kissed me. "In dreams, we can do whatever we wish," he whispered, and I put my head on his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and whispered, "I am so sorry I got us into this situation. You were right. We should not have returned."

"You didn't know there were S.H.I.E.L.D. creeps stalking my house," I said, and he laughed at my insult.

I pulled out of his embrace and walked to the river. He followed, and we sat on the bank, watching the current sweep by and colorful little fishes swimming past. We sat like that for a long time before he said, "I still wish you would go home."

"Even if I wanted to, which I don't, not without you, they won't let me. Stark already said so," I looked over at him. "Why do you want me to leave you so badly?"

I do not want any harm to come to you," he looked at me with sadness brimming in his eyes, and I wanted to cry again. It took a lot to break Loki, and the Avengers were enough to cause this much pain. It scared me, how much control they held over him.

"They won't hurt me. I'm not going to let them," I shook my head and looked back at the river. "Besides that, if my brother stays, they aren't going to be able to lay a finger on me. He gets... weird," I smirked, thinking about my 12-year-old brother facing off with the Avengers.

"Yes, I have seen," Loki said, absentmindedly rubbing his left cheek.

"Yeah, what happened?" I asked, turning to face him. "He's running around talking about how he can shoot fire and lightning and shit from his fingers, and then saying it's your fault."

"It may be. There was a rogue Chitauri scientist that had an experimental machine, and he apparently ended up on Earth, because your brother was put inside the machine."

"How did he find you? Actually, a better question would be, why did you run away when Romanoff sedated me?" I stared at him accusingly.

"I tried to get to you, Ashley, I really did," he stared at me pleadingly, and I looked away from his puppy-dog eyes. "They made it impossible. So I ran, hoping to make them follow me, and then I would be able to swing back around and get you. But I got lost," he looked very ashamed in himself. "So, I created an illusion of Frost Giants to distract them, and the Chitauri saw it and found me. He said he thought it would be able to boost my powers, but I had to keep the illusions going, so he found your brother to test it on. When I saw there was a person in the machine, I let them "kill" my illusions, and they all ran to the machine. But when I tried to escape, they managed to surround me again. That's when the boy got up and shot fire out of his fingers. I allowed myself to get distracted, and they overpowered me," he shook his head.

I grabbed his hand, and he stared at me. "I will get us out of this. I swear," I said, using my other hand to make him look at me, and he nodded. "I will not let them do this to you."

He laughed, lightly and sadly, and said, "Do you ever act your age? I have never met anyone so young, yet so strong and mature."

"I try not to. As far as know, I've never acted my age. I've always been more mature than my peers."

"What do you mean, 'you try not to'? What is so bad about being a child?"

"Have you seen them?" I asked, and he laughed. "Well, I shouldn't say that. I know plenty of teenagers that aren't horrible."

He chuckled, and said, "I am not sure that is a compliment."

I laughed too, and said, "None of them are here to hear it."

We sat at the river for a while longer, and then he closed his eyes and said, "It appears to be morning already."

"What?"

"On Midgard. It is morning."

"How do you know that?"

He opened his eyes, and said, "Close your eyes; you can see the real world."

I closed my eyes, and was amazed to see myself lying in bed, fast asleep. He was right; I could see the sun rising outside the window.

"Whoa," I opened my eyes, and he stood up, pulling me up with him. I looked at him sadly. "Do we have to?"

He nodded, and said, "You cannot stay asleep all day. I can feel your body trying to wake up."

I nodded, and kissed him one last time. "I'll try and get them to let me clean your wounds," I said, and he chuckled.

"Do not worry about me," he said, and put my hand across his mouth.

"You married me, I will worry about you all I want," I said firmly, and pulled my hand away.

He smiled at me. "I love you."

"I love you too, Loki," I smiled.

"Now wake up, they will come looking for you soon..."

That's when I heard a phone ringing. "Is there a phone in here?"

"What?" Loki asked, confused.

"A phone. I hear a phone," I said, as the ringing grew louder and Loki's river grew softer.

"It is in your room," he said, squeezing my hands. "Wake up, Ashley."

"But, I don't..." I started to say, and suddenly felt myself jerk up.

I looked around, seeing the bedroom and the plain white walls and wood dresser. "...Have a phone," I finished the sentence breathlessly.

The ringing continued, and I slid off the bed. I walked over to the dresser, opened the drawers stupidly, and then realized: the ringing was coming from the top of the dresser. There was a clear panel built into the wood. A little icon was flashing red, and there was a picture of a phone on it. I touched the icon, and it stopped flashing.

"Hello?" I asked the dresser.

"It's about time!" Tony barked at me. "I've been calling for ten minutes!"

"I'm a heavy sleeper," I lied, and I sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well, we don't need you sleeping all day!" He exclaimed, and I laughed.

"What's it to you?" I asked. "I thought I was a prisoner?"

"I don't take prisoners out for burgers," he said.

"Okay, did you just want me awake, or do you need me?" I asked.

"Just wanted you up. Have fun," he laughed. The phone clicked, and I got up and pushed the icon again.

The panel lit up, revealing all sorts of different buttons. It looked like a tablet was built into the dresser. I pressed one that looked like a TV, and the screen changed to say, 'Live television'. I scrolled up the list, and found the Doctor Who logo. _Yes, _I thought, smiling, and then thought, _Save it for later._

I clicked the back button, and found another one that looked like a microphone. I pressed it, and JARVIS's voice said, "Yes, miss?"

"Can I see the cameras?" I asked. I knew it was a long shot, but anything was worth a try.

A light flashed out of the screen, and a monitor was displayed on the wall behind the dresser. I used the touch screen to scroll through the cameras until I found Loki's cell, and tapped it. A picture filled the monitor of Loki sitting on the bench, staring out the window, the gauze on his face nearly falling off. He reached up and pushed the tape back onto his cheek, but it just fluttered back down.

I sighed, and saw a little button on the screen that looked like a speaker. _Why would they let me see him, let alone talk to him?_ I thought, and tried to click it.

I heard a beep, and I looked up at the monitor to see Loki turn around and smile smugly at the camera. "You have finally decided to talk to me?"

"Actually, I think I just hacked the camera," I said, and he smiled more sincerely.

"Good job."

"Thank you. I believe they're listening, though."

"Most likely."

"Give me a bit, I'm going to try and get up to you," I said, and he nodded. I clicked the camera button, and the monitor dissolved.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Fine! How about I cut _you _open, and then leave your wounds to get infected, and then laugh as I watch you slowly and painfully develop Gangrene and have your flesh eaten away? All the while you are locked in a cell, alone and dying, while people stare at you over a camera!" I screamed at no one in particular, and the whole group was standing around me, staring wide-eyed while I tried to steady my breathing. I could not afford to turn blue again.

I had been trying for an hour and a half to get them to let me go to Loki, and I was getting desperate.

"That was... descriptive," Natasha said, taking a step towards me. She reached out to put her hand on my shoulder, but I pulled back.

"Please," I pleaded with her, "Please let me help him. I know you guys hate him, but don't make me watch him die," I begged, and she sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"Fine! Fine! Just go!" She shouted, and I ran to the elevator before anyone could say any different.

Tony followed me, and I punched 76 into the wall. We sped down, and I ran down the hall to Loki's cell. Tony keyed in the numbers in the wall, but he didn't know I was watching him. _5-6-3-2-4,_ I thought, saying it repeatedly in my head as the door slid open and I walked in to Loki.

I took his hand, and we walked back down the hall to the elevator, and rode down to the 60th floor. I had him take off his coat- I forgot to find him a shirt, lay on the table again, and I gingerly took off the gauze I had put on the gashes. They were still red around the edges, but the stitches were still intact and they weren't bleeding anymore. I put Neosporin and more gauze on all of them, and then looked at the burn and sighed. I wet down a washcloth, but before I could try and touch his face, he sat up quickly- too quickly, because he grabbed the edges of the table for support. I held his arm, and he looked scared again.

"W-why must you do that?" He asked just quietly enough that I could hear him, but Tony couldn't.

"You have to keep the burn wet," I said, running my fingers through his hair.

"Why?"

"I- I actually don't know. That's just what my mom told me. It probably keeps it from blistering. I know, it hurts, but I have to do it, Loki. It'll be quick."

I quickly patted the burn, and grabbed the burn cream and put it on again. I pulled him off the table, and turned to Tony while Loki was putting on his coat.

"What actually happened to him? I never asked, did I?"

"Well... Uh..." Tony looked very uncomfortable and nervous. I felt a swelling of pride in my chest that I could scare the Avengers.

"Miss Romanoff had quite a bit of fun with a stick," Loki said, wrapping one arm around my shoulder.

"A stick."

"Yes, she had a stick."

"Natasha Romanoff... attacked a God... with a stick."

"It would appear so," Loki said, and I just shook my head.

"Just because you people are superheroes, it doesn't mean you can just attack everyone you meet with a damn stick!" I screamed at the camera, and there was a click from the ceiling, and then Natasha's voice filled the room.

"Actually," she said, "Yes, I can."

"Not if I've got something to say about it," I snapped.

"Okay, that's enough," Tony said, and I shot him a dirty look. "He," Tony pointed at Loki, "Needs to go back to his cell."

My look must have worsened, because Tony actually took a step away from me. I shook my head again and walked Loki back down the hall to the elevator. Tony caught up, and we went back up to the 76th floor. I told Loki I'd get him a shirt, and he just laughed.

Walking back out of the cell, as Tony shut the door, I looked at him and said, "Take me to a mall."

"You're in Manhattan. Any mall in particular?" He asked as we walked back down the hallway.

"I don't know, I've never been here before!" I exclaimed, and he nodded.

"Alright. You got money?"

"Stop at a Chase."

"How do you plan to withdraw money without an ID?"

I pursed my lips and looked at him as the elevator went down. Slowly, I opened my hand and created a replica of my school ID card. I raised one eyebrow and he shook his head.

"That's illegal."

"It's mine!"

"You don't even look like that."

"I got highlights. It's not that bad."

"Whatever," He said, walking off the elevator. I followed him out the front door, and he hailed a taxi.

I got my money out of the Chase just fine, much to Tony's dismay, and then we went to a gigantic mall. I mean, this mall was bigger than the arena on Asgard. I found my way to a Sears and went into the men's department. I found a really nice green polyester shirt in the clearance section, and as I was walking around, I noticed a pair of running shoes on sale that were actually in my size. Natasha had given me a pair to wear, but they were too small and my feet were starting to blister. I grabbed the shoes, paid, and we left. We got into another taxi and I slipped into the new shoes, relived that I could move my toes.

Tony had the cab stop at a McDonald's, and I bought Loki and I McDoubles, two medium fries, and two large Cokes.

We got back to the Tower at about five o'clock, and I got off the elevator on the 76th floor. To my surprise, Tony didn't follow me. I walked down the hall, punched the numbers into the wall, and walked in. I knew very well they were watching, but I wasn't prepared for what happened next: the damn door closed.

"You son of a bitch!" I screamed at the camera, and Loki stared at me like I was speaking a different language. "I got you a new shirt," I threw the bag to Loki, and then collapsed on the bench next to him.

He slipped the shirt on, putting his coat on the floor next to him, and then noticed the McDonalds bag that I threw on the bench next to me. He eyed it curiously, and I laughed a little. "Sorry honey, I didn't have enough money to get us good food, and I guess I'm going to kill you with grease. I just know they haven't _fed_ you!" I screamed the last part at the camera again, and he smirked.

"They do not care, Ashley," he said as I opened the carry-out bag and pulled out the burgers. "I am amazed they let you come back down and see me at all."

"And now they've locked me in with you," I said, and shook my head. "They don't know how stupid they can be, do they?"

"I suppose not," he muttered as he stared at the burger suspiciously.

"You eat it, Loki."

"Yes, I know, but what _is_ it?" He asked, and I laughed.

"First rule of Midgard, Loki: never ask about what comes out of a McDonalds," I laughed as I took a bite out of my burger.

He copied me and made a bit of a face, which made me laugh harder. Soon, however, his hunger won over and the whole burger was gone. I gave him both of the fries, not even sure why I bought myself one, and sipped my Coke. I hadn't realized how much smaller Loki's cell was than mine, and it was making me feel sick. I had only ever felt claustrophobic when I was in really crowded places before, but at that moment, I was pretty sure that was about to change.

"Ashley, what is it?" Loki asked, and I stared at him. He was staring at my hands, which were gripping the cup so hard it was bending and about to break. My fingertips were starting to turn blue again.

"Tight spaces and I don't seem to be very good friends," I said, and then I laughed nervously before biting my lip.

He took my hand from the cup before it burst, and squeezed it. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the glass behind me. I took deep breaths, and managed to calm myself down before I turned totally blue. It worked for about two minutes, which was when the glass behind us shattered, and I found myself hanging on for dear life from a window ledge 75 stories above the street.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

[Author's note: As you read on, keep in mind that the Spiderman and his villains are from the original Spiderman movies, so it's Tobey Maguire]

There were stars dancing in front of my eyes. When the glass shattered, I tumbled out backwards, and hit my head on the wall. It was a miracle I was able to grab the windowsill on the floor below.

Loki leaned out of the new window and shouted, "Hold on!" He reached his hand out and created a rope with his magic.

I grabbed it, and he started to pull me up. That's when I saw something black move from around the corner of the building. It was in the shadows, but I could tell it was moving towards me, and fast. I reached out with one hand as it came into view and created a bubble of magic around it. I pulled it up with me as Loki pulled me into the building, and I screamed when I realized what it was. At first I thought I had a concussion, but when the Avengers ran in behind us, they confirmed it.

"How the hell is that possible?" I heard Tony ask, and I pulled the bubble closer to me.

"Venom?" I asked the thing, and it flicked its long tongue at me and hissed.

"Why sso ssurprised, preciouss?" He smiled, and I felt everyone staring at me, but I wasn't going to take my concentration away from Venom.

"Ashley," I heard Tony ask, "How do you know what he is?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" I shouted at him. "_Movies_, remember?"

Venom made a hissing sound that sounded like laughter, and I said, "You're supposed to be dead!"

He laughed again, and I raised my eyebrow and made the bubble smaller, so he couldn't sit up straight. He hissed, and said, "You ssaw me die in _their_ movie, ssweet. It wass a classic 'hero beatss the villain' trick."

"So, what about all the other villains that are supposed to be dead?" I asked, and flicked my gaze to the side momentarily to the Avengers, noticing Natasha was gone.

"All alive. And waiting," he added slyly.

"Waiting for what?" I asked.

"Him," Venom turned to Loki, who looked just as confused as I felt.

I turned to the Avengers, bringing the bubble around with me so Venom stayed in front of me. Natasha walked back in the room with Nick Fury, and I laughed.

"More people that are supposed to be dead! Actually, Fury, aren't you supposed to in Europe creating a new identity for yourself?" I asked as my brother trailed into the room.

"Loki coming back was a bit more important," he said, and then looked at Venom. "Wow, that's something. What are you doing here? You belong to Parker."

Venom hissed at the mention of Spider-Man. "We _belong_ to no one in particular. You heroess think you're sso clever, but guesss what? The villainss aren't putting up with it anymore. You think you're the only oness who can team up? We've made an alliancce, as well," he smiled evilly, "and we want _him_ to join."

"That's adorable," Steve chided, "but you're not leaving, so how do you expect him to?"

"Well, he'ss going to break me out, and we will leave."

"Funny," Steve said, "Bring him this way, Ashley."

I followed Steve and Tony down the hall a little ways, and we stuck Venom in a cell. Then we walked back down to Loki's and I heard Natasha swearing.

"... Just put him in a new damn cell, and now we have to repair this one too!" She screamed. I walked around the corner and saw Hill was in the room now and had a gun pointed at Loki.

"Okay, stop," I said, walking in front of her and pushing the gun away. I turned to Loki as she walked away and said, "You've got your thinking look on. Please tell me you're not considering joining Venom."

"Ashley..." He whispered, and was definitely lost in thought. "It very well could be the only way we will get out of here."

"Loki, please, no," I begged. "You can't. You're not like them!"

"How am I not?" He asked, grabbing my shoulders. "Am I not just as bad as them? You say you are 'obsessed' with the motion pictures, you know! Villains are villains, my dear. We may as well work together."

"You have a heart, Loki. I know; I've seen it."

He looked sad and depressed. He leaned forward and kissed me, and then Steve jerked me away from him.

"Not today," he said. "How lucky are you, three different cells in two days," he said to Loki as Natasha and Clint led him out into the hallway and to another cell.

I was both upset and pissed off, and I just wanted to be alone, so I turned around and ran up the hallway. Nobody tried to stop me as I past, and if they did, I wouldn't let them. Instead of taking the elevator, I climbed the 16 flights of stairs to the top floor, and then ran out onto the huge deck overlooking the city. I sat down close to the edge and looked around, thinking about Loki standing here, trying to take over the world. I lay on my back on the hard cement and watched the clouds rolling by, deep in my thoughts. So deep in my thoughts, in fact, that I didn't hear someone walk up behind me until the person was sitting on the ground next to me. I looked over to see Jeremy, who was scooting away from the edge; he was afraid of heights.

"What?" I asked, not sitting up.

"What's wrong?" He asked, obviously oblivious to the fact that I didn't want to talk.

"Well, let's see: I almost fell out of a 76-story-high prison cell; was attacked by Venom; and now possibly face the threat of my husband joining the Allegiance of Villains," I sat up and stared at him, and he cowered away from me.

"Would he really leave you?" Jeremy asked, and I looked away from him.

"No, Jeremy, he wants me to go with him."

I could feel Jeremy trying to bore holes into the back of my head, but I refused to look at him.

"You're not going to do it though, right?" He asked, and I glanced sideways at him, but didn't say anything. "Right?" He asked again, more demanding this time.

"I don't know!" I screamed, and he jumped a little. "I don't know what I'm going to do. If Loki does leave, I can't stay here; because they're going to blame his escape on me and probably lock me up again. And I can't let him go alone."

"He's a God, Ashley," my brother said, "He can do stuff on his own."

"Thanks Jeremy. There are such encouraging words coming from you," I said, too stressed to even care about what I was saying.

I got up and went back inside, Jeremy following close behind me, and went to the elevator. It was only eight, but I was exhausted and figured if I went to sleep, maybe Loki would do that dream thing he did the night before.

I curled up in bed and tried to fall asleep, but my mind was reeling so much it took two hours before I dozed off. Sure enough, I drifted right into another dream meeting.

"We're in the palace," I said, looking around at the golden walls.

"Yes," Loki whispered with his back to me.

"Loki..."

"No, let me speak first. I have been thinking. Perhaps, going with this Venom character would not be such a bad idea," I opened my mouth to protest, but he turned around swiftly and pulled me into him. "We could go with him, and then come back to Asgard and never bother with Midgard again." He started running his fingers through my hair.

"I don't see it being that easy," I said, pulling my head back to look at him. "The villains are relentless. They don't give up... Well, I don't need to tell you, do I?"

He laughed, and said, "They will not have a say in the matter. Trust me, sweetheart, we will come home."

"I know, but is this really the way to do it?"

His finger got caught in a tangled clump of my hair, and I giggled a little and reached up to pull his hand out. "I do not see another way to do it," he sighed.

I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off by a loud _bang_. "What the hell was that?" I asked, looking around wildly.

"What was what?" He asked, clearly confused.

"That noise!" I exclaimed, as I heard something that sounded like glass shattering.

"It must be on your floor, I do not hear anything."

"How do you not..." I started to ask him, but suddenly I was thrown to the ground by some invisible force behind me.

"What happened?" Loki exclaimed, but I barely heard him.

I realized I was hearing the banging inside my head, because it was happening in the real world. I shut my eyes and saw the window of my room had been busted out, and someone was standing next to me shaking me, trying to wake me up. It was so dark I couldn't tell who it was, but he shoved me hard again, and I fell onto my back in the dream world, trying not to get pulled back into my body. I had a feeling whoever it was, he wasn't trying to wake me up for a good reason.

"Ashley, what's going on?" Loki shouted at me, kneeling down and helping me sit up.

"Someone broke into my room, and they're trying to wake me up," I screamed over the noise in my ears- the sound of my head repeatedly slamming into a pillow.

"I will be there in five minutes, just hold him off," Loki said.

"What? How do you plan...?" I shouted at him, but the palace dissolved around me, and I woke up just in time to stop my head from slamming into the nightstand as I was thrown off the bed. I jumped up and my sword materialized in my hands, which I held out in front of me. It was so dark that the only thing I could see was the light-up clock on the other side of the bed, which said it was one o'clock in the morning.

"Who's there?" I waved my sword in front of me. "I warn you, I'm armed!"

"You ssleep with a ssword?" The person hissed at me, and my stomach did a flip. "Crazzy."

"How did you get out of your cell?"

"If I can break into the glass, why didn't you think I could break out?" He laughed. "Now, down to bussinessss," I heard him take a step closer to me, and backed right into the nightstand. "Don't make thiss difficult. Come with me, and no harm will come to you."

"I doubt that," I said as I climbed onto my bed. I felt it sink in on the other side, and swung my sword, feeling it make contact. When I went to pull it back, though, Venom yanked it from my grasp.

"What the..." I smiled as he growled because the sword disappeared.

"Magic," I said, and I felt him move toward me on the bed. I jumped down the other side and ran to the door, but it would budge.

_OH gods, I am stupid!_ I thought, and spun around as I heard Venom moving toward me. I created a ball of blue flame in my hands. Venom hissed and recoiled back, and I laughed. I made the fire grow from my hands and circle Venom, and he crouched down to the floor to avoid touching it. At least, that's what I thought, until he sprang straight up through the circle and pinned me into the door.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Get off me, you freak!" I screamed, trying to push Venom off of me. He pinned my arms next to my head, and flicked his disgusting tongue at my face. "GET OFF!"

"Calm down, ssweet," he hissed. "Come," his suit wrapped itself around my hands so my palms were squashed together, and then he dragged me to the window.

"Stop! Let go of me!" I screamed, and tried to hook my foot around the edge of my bed.

"Oh, sstop!" He shouted, sounding annoyed, and another part of his suit reached out and wrapped around my head, covering my mouth. It felt cold and smooth, like a snakeskin. He climbed out the little window, which I judged to be two feet by two feet in size. He pulled me up, and I ducked so he wouldn't slam my head into the wall.

He pulled me out the window, and as he crawled across the wall, I was dangling precariously by my shoulders and hands 55 stories above the ground. I shut my eyes and tried to twist my hand out enough to use my magic, but he must have felt me wriggling, because he wrapped his suit all the way around my hands so I couldn't move them at all.

_This is gross,_ I thought, and stupidly I opened my eyes and looked down at the streetlights. I looked up at Venom, who was skittering along the wall, and as we came to the corner, he started to turn, but stopped so abruptly that I swung around the corner. I used my bare feet to keep myself around the corner from him. I felt him trying to pull me back, but I had my toes practically dug into the windowsill. I looked up and saw another black mass moving a few floors above me. _Oh no, another one,_ I thought.

Suddenly there was a flash of green light around the corner, and Venom shrieked. I heard another shriek from him, and he fell, pulling me down with him. He only fell two stories before he caught himself again, but I was left swinging like a pendulum.

After another minute, I heard a _whish_ above my head. I felt the suit's webs breaking, and I slipped a few inches down. I reached my hands over my head and grabbed what was left of the web holding my shoulders, but the suit seemed to be returning to Venom, leaving me to fall to my doom. I managed to turn myself around and grab onto the window ledge just as the last of the suit left my fingers.

And there I was again, dangling freely over Manhattan.

I saw a few more flashes of light around the corner, but I was too busy trying to open the window in front of me to pay much attention. I banged against the window, but it seemed to be an empty room. I looked up, and saw a light on in a window a few stories above me. Slowly, I brought my foot up to the ledge I was holding myself up on and pushed myself up to the next ledge. I forced myself not to look down as I did this four more times, each time inching slowly higher above the street. I silently thanked Sif for all the training that gave me enough upper-body strength to be able to hold on at all, and continued to push myself up the side of the wall.

Then, I heard a frantic skittering that could only mean one thing: _Venom was coming back._ Sure enough, he turned the corner again right above my head, but he didn't seem to give me a second thought. Instead, I watched as he ran across the side of the building to the other edge, jumped off the wall, and swung his way down the street.

I shook my head and focused on pulling myself the rest of the way up the wall. I wasn't sure how high I had climbed, but two more stories above me was a room with a bright light. My arms were screaming in pain, after not having had exercise like this in weeks, and my fingers were stiff from the cold concrete.

A cold wind whipped around the corner, blowing my hair across my face and making my eyes tear up. I tried to bring my foot up to the next ledge, but my leg was too tired and my toes were freezing. I mean, they were literally starting to freeze. I stole a quick peek down, trying not to focus on the ground, and saw my feet turning blue again.

"Great," I said aloud to the howling wind, "just what I need: ice."

I gripped the windowsill tighter as I felt the one under my feet grow slippery. My blue toes were causing the concrete to frost over. I desperately reached up with my left hand, knowing I wasn't going to be able to reach the windowsill, and shut my eyes.

Suddenly, I felt a cold hand grasp mine. My eyes snapped open as I was pulled through an open window, straight into Loki's arms. I turned and looked, and saw the whole wall of glass had been busted out. We were standing in Venom's cell.

"Oh my gods," I whispered into Loki's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Why did I give you magic if you are not going to use it?" He asked jokingly.

I mentally face-palmed myself, and said, "Hey, give me a break; I've only had the magic for a month!"

He laughed, and I kissed him feverishly. Two minutes went by of the two of us standing in the middle of a jail cell, lips locked, until we were separated by Tony shooting his repulsor ray right between our heads. I saw him out the corner of my eye and pushed Loki aside, jumping back myself, just in time.

I stared at Tony, who still had his hand pointed straight ahead, only wearing a white tank top, black sweatpants, and the right forearm of one of his suits.

"Gee, a little late, aren't you?" I asked, rolling my eyes and walking over to help Loki up.

"I- what- where'd it go?" Tony stuttered, and I scoffed.

"I don't know, judging from the hole in that window, I'd say he escaped."

Tony ran back up the hallway, and I took Loki's hand and pulled him to the elevator. Tony didn't say anything the whole way up to the top floor about me bringing Loki, and I kept my mouth shut.

We walked out of the elevator and saw Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Pepper standing in the circle of monitors in their pajamas. Tony walked over to them, while Loki sat on the couch and leaned his head against the back. I lingered a few feet away from the monitors and watched them replay how Venom escaped.

Apparently he had a pumpkin-bomb hidden inside his suit, which he used to blow out the wall, and then he scuttled along the wall like an overgrown bug until he found my room. He busted the window, and then spent ten minutes fighting me. Then the outside camera shows him pulling me back across the wall, and the flashing lights, which it showed to be Loki. JARVIS stopped the Venom footage and showed us how Loki broke the glass very easily with his magic, and then _flew_ around the building to find us. Then we watched Loki fighting Venom on one screen, and me stupidly inching up a wall 60 stories above the ground.

"What was that bomb he had?" Natasha asked.

"It's called a Pumpkin Bomb," I said, earning looks from everyone in the room. "It's one of the Green Goblin's weapons," and, seeing the confused looks on their faces, I added, "He's another one of Spiderman's villains."

"It bothers me how much she knows about the villains," Steve said.

"I know stuff about the heroes, too," I said, but no one was listening. Steve, Tony, and Clint went to go work on fixing the holes in the wall, and Pepper and Natasha stayed to watch the cameras on the outside of the building for anymore attacks.

I sat down next to Loki, who had his eyes closed. I doubted he was asleep, though, so I grabbed his hand and lay my head on his shoulder. We lay there like that for a long time, until the men came back, screaming and carrying about getting glass in their hands or something.

"How long have they been there?" I heard Tony ask, and I opened my eyes to the sun peeking through the glass walls.

I turned around and rested my arms on the back of the couch. "All night, apparently," I said, and he shook his head.

"Security in this building is terrible," he muttered, walking away.

I looked over at the wall clock and it showed it was five o'clock. I sighed and put my chin on my arms. My brother walked off the elevator and came running up to me.

"I had a horrible dream! There were explosions and huge flashes of green light outside, and someone was screaming, what happened? Was it real?"

"No Jeremy," I said calmly, and he relaxed. "It was just a dream, go lie back down." He nodded, turned around, and went back to the elevator.

"Wow," I heard Clint say, but I just shook my head and turned around.

"Come on, Loki, I'm going to re-do your bandages," I said, getting up. Loki and I walked to the elevator, and, much to my surprise, nobody followed us. They were all still too freaked out over Venom.

When Loki and I were in the medical room, I used my magic to change the picture the camera was seeing and sat up on the table with him.

"You still thinking about leaving?" I asked helplessly.

He stared at me, stunned, for almost a full minute. Slowly, he said, "Do you really want to leave your brother?"

"My brother's fine. He's with the Avengers. You and I, on the other hand, are either going to get thrown from the windows or killed by fast food."

Loki nodded, and then slid smoothly off the table. "Yes. Then, we shall go."

I slid off the table too, went over to the counter, got out a piece of paper and a pen, and scrawled a note that read,

'So sorry, we will not be staying any longer. Whether or not you choose to believe that we came to do harm is your problem, but we really did not mean to cause trouble. We have left, hopefully taking the threat of whatever other villains try to attack you with us.

Yours Truly,

King Loki and Queen Ashley, Of Asgard'

"Why are you leaving an explanation?" Loki asked as I laid the note on the table.

"I don't know. Coming back here is making me act human again."

"We have been here for three days," he said skeptically.

"Three days too many."

Laughing, he said, "I will conceal us until we are outside of their cameras view, so make sure you do not come in contact with anybody." I nodded.

I waited until we were in the staircase before I lifted the spell on the medical camera, and then we ran down the stairs as fast as we could run down 60 floors. Loki waited until we were ten blocks away from Avengers Tower to have me disguise myself, me creating the illusion of a purple tank top, a jean skirt, and black heels, and he disguised himself as well, in his usual suit and scarf, so we looked like two normal people lost in New York.

"Where are you going?" I shouted to Loki over the noise of the crowd.

"I have no idea," he shouted as he turned another corner.

"Well, stop!" I pulled him into a shop doorway. "Slow down. Maybe we can find a map or something."

We walked to the next corner, and there was a huge map of Manhattan, with a little 'You Are Here' dot to the right of Central Park.

"What does this mean?" Loki asked, confused.

"It means, if we continue east, we should make it to Central Park, and hopefully find somewhere to have Heimdall let us back in," I said, and took his hand, starting to pull him toward the rising sun. As we walked, I looked down alleyways, looking for one big enough for the Bifrost to open into.

I just wish we would have made it to the Park.

We were across the street from it, waiting to cross, when I noticed him, standing on the corner north from us. People walked past him like it was no big deal, like, 'This is New York, people dress up as Sandman all the time.'

_Oh shit, this is going to get ugly fast, _I thought, and I pulled Loki south down the street. Loki looked confused, and opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head. He nodded a little and we walked a few blocks before I peeked behind me. Sandman was still hot on our tail, so I quickly looked up and down the street, and then darted across, Loki right behind me. We made it a couple of blocks before someone jumped out of the Park in front of us. I stopped so fast to avoid hitting him that Loki ran into me.

"Of course it's you," I scoffed.

Did you misss me?" Venom hissed, his suit separating over his head and revealing the face of Edward Brock. He was smiling evilly, showing the little fangs in the corners of his mouth.

"What do you want with us?" I exclaimed, earning some strange looks from passerby. I scowled at them and looked back at Eddie, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You should come with us," a burly voice said behind us, telling me that Sandman caught up. "Unless you want this to get messy."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Even though I wasn't handcuffed, walking between Sandman and Venom, I felt like a prisoner.

Finally, they stopped in the doorway of an abandoned store, and Sandman looked around before he opened the door and shoved me inside, Loki right behind me. They lead us down two sets of stairs and into a huge basement that had to be three blocks wide and five blocks long. What amazed me the most was all the people wandering around.

There were at least 200 people in there. Some were working with huge machines, some were typing away on computers, and others were working on weapons. I tried to count how many iconic villains I recognized, and there had to be at least eight. Sandman pushed me down another staircase to the main floor, where he had Loki and I sit in two chairs there. He walked away, and came back with Red Skull.

"Hello," he said in his thick German accent, extending his hand, "I am Johann Shmidt, leader of HYDRA."

"Okay," I sighed, refusing his handshake, "I can believe that the heroes faked every one of the villains' deaths for the good of the movies, but _really_? You've got to be, what, 110 years old? How the hell are you alive?"

He let his hand fall to his side and smiled grotesquely. "We kept the Winter Soldier frozen for 70 years, why not me too?"

I shuddered at the mention of Bucky, and hoped to the gods he wasn't part of this. I looked up at him, and asked, "So, are we here for you to ask us to join you, or are we prisoners?"

"Why would I hold a God prisoner?" He asked Loki, who sat up a little straighter.

"You know you belong here," someone said behind Shmidt, who moved over to let the person stand next to him. It was the Green Goblin, Mr. Osborn.

"I belong on Asgard, not on Midgard playing with mortals," Loki said coolly.

"We share a common enemy, and we could use your battle expertise," Sandman said.

"I am sure you will get along just fine," Loki scoffed, standing up. I did the same. We turned and started to walk away.

"You don't want a reason to rid the universe of your insipid brother?" Osborn asked.

_Damn it,_ I thought, because Loki turned back around, interest piqued.

"I'm listening," Loki said, and the others smiled victoriously, Venom flicking his tongue. I groaned and covered my mouth with my hand.

"We are planning to annihilate the heroes soon," Sandman said, and I thought, _of course you are. _I didn't say anything, though, I just rolled my eyes.

"Your wife doess not sseem as interessted," Venom hissed. Loki looked over at my scowl.

"Ashley..." Loki started, but I shook my head.

"No, it's fine, have fun with your little murder plans. I'm going home to make sure the Realms don't explode or anything. Come back when you're ready," I said, making sure my annoyance was clear before turning around and storming up the stairs. I heard Loki calling me, but I didn't look back until I was back out on the street, squinting up at the abandoned building in the harsh sunlight.

I turned and walked a little ways down the street, until I came across a newspaper stand. I looked at the front page of the paper, which said the date was June 18th. I looked around, trying to see if I could find an alleyway or something, when I heard a voice behind me.

"'Scuse me, miss, you lost?" I turned around and saw a balding man flashing a toothy grin at me.

"Actually, yes, I am," I said, relived someone was willing to help me. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You's in SoHo, missy. Where you supposed to be?"

"SoHo?" I asked, scared and shocked. According to the map I saw by Central Park, SoHo was almost five miles from the Upper East Side. "I was... Never mind. Thank you, sir, good day," I shook his hand and walked away.

I got about 30 steps before I was intercepted again.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," I said, letting Natasha grab my arm instead of fighting away. "Did you follow us all the way across Manhattan?"

"It wasn't very hard. Loki seems to only have one disguise for Earth. For a 'Master of Illusions', you'd think he'd pick a better disguise."

_I think it's freaking sexy,_ I thought, but I kept my mouth shut.

"We lost him!" I heard Clint shout, and Natasha and I turned. Clint and Hill came running up the street to us, and Clint stared at me. "Where is he? Huh? Fess up, or you're going back to a cell."

I stared at him, not sure what to do. I couldn't just turn in my husband, but at the same time, I couldn't just leave the villains to attack the Avengers. Apparently I took too long thinking, because Clint groaned and we started walking back up the street.

It took a half hour to get back to Avengers Tower, and I was surprised they took me up to the 92nd floor instead of locking me back up. Clint and Hill went over to the monitors, which were showing cameras all over New York, and Natasha and I sat on the back of the couch.

A few minutes later, Steve, Tony, Bruce, Clint, Thor, and Fury made a half-circle around Natasha and me.

"Alright, Ashley, you've got to tell us where he is. He obviously didn't go back to Asgard, or you wouldn't be here. So that must mean he decided to join the other villains, and you didn't," Tony said, and I looked at him, my eyes wide.

"They said they were planning an attack on you," I whispered, my voice not wanting to work.

"An attack? Don't they know that never worked before?" Clint asked.

"They think if they're working together, they might be able to manage it," I whispered, and they went still.

"And now they have Loki," Thor said, and I looked at him.

"He's only doing this because of you. They promised him revenge on you, Thor," I felt tears building up behind my eyes and forced them away.

"Of course he is," Steve groaned, and I stood up and walked to a whiteboard next to the monitors.

I grabbed a black marker and wrote 'Villains' on the top, and then underlined it. I made a list of all the villains I remembered seeing:

Villains

Venom

Sandman

Green Goblin

Red Skull

Doctor Octopus

Whiplash

Abomination

Doctor Doom

Silver Surfer

And in little letters at the bottom, I wrote:

Loki

Then next to that one, I wrote 'Heroes,' and made a list of them.

Heroes

Captain America

Iron Man

Hawkeye

Hulk

Black Widow

Thor

Iron Patriot?

Falcon?

Spiderman?

Mr. Fantastic?

Invisible Woman?

Human Torch?

The Thing?

"Why is the Fantastic Four on the list?" I heard Fury ask behind me, and I turned.

"Doctor Doom and the Silver Surfer are both their villains; don't you think they should be fighting them?" I asked, and everyone nodded.

"How do you expect to find Parker?" Fury asked.

"Easy," I said, walking over to one monitor. I clicked a computer icon, and it brought up Google Chrome. "Ooh, fancy Tony," I smiled, and typed 'Peter Parker' into the URL.

"You're going to look Spiderman up in the phone book?" Tony asked skeptically, looking over my shoulder as I typed on the holographic keyboard.

"Please don't look over my shoulder. I hate when people do that," I said, and he backed up. "And yes, I am looking him up in the phone book."

When the website loaded, I typed 'Peter Parker' in the search box, and managed to narrow the search to one apartment in Queens.

"Okay, got it. Who's driving?" I wrote the address down on a piece of paper and walked to the elevator. I hit the down button and turned around as Natasha walked over to me. "And while we're going there, a few of you can go to the Baxter Building and convince the Fantastic Four to join you," Natasha and I got on the elevator and rode down.

We caught a cab to Queens, paid him, and walked up to the door of the apartment. I hit the buzzer, and we waited.

"Did it say if he has any roommates?" Natasha asked.

"No, but I assume his girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson, lives with him."

Suddenly, the door was flung open, and a boy stood in the doorway, looking very annoyed. Natasha opened her mouth to say something, but my jaw dropped at the sight of him.

"No damn way this is real," I said, staring wide-eyed at the boy. "Austin? This isn't real. It can't be."

"Ashley?" He asked, sounding just as confused as I felt. "What- I thought you were dead!"

"What the hell is going on here?" Natasha screamed, cutting off our mini-reunion.

"N-Natasha, this is Austin, he was my best friend in school," I said. "What the hell are you doing in New York?"


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

After I established that it was indeed my best friend standing in the doorway, the same six-foot-one 17-year-old boy with his crazy head of reddish-brown hair and his aquamarine-blue eyes, he invited us into the little two-bedroom apartment. The living room was a mess, with papers scattered all over the little table, books on the coffee table, and a stack of pizza boxes in the corner of the kitchen.

"Austin, seriously, why are you in New York?" I asked. "And why are you in the apartment that Google listed as Peter Parker's?"

"I'm in New York because I moved here," he said, sitting on the couch. I sat next to him, and Natasha sat at the table. "And Peter is my roommate."

I shook my head, awestruck. "Okay... Well, do you have any idea where he is? We need to speak with him."

"I imagine he's saving New York or something superhero-y," Austin said, rolling his eyes. "But what about you? Everyone thought you were dead."

"I went to Asgard with Loki," I smiled at the amazed look on his face. "What? If you can be roommates with Spiderman, then I can live with Loki. Also, he married me."

"_What the hell?_" Austin shouted, earning a bang from the next room. "Sorry, MJ," he said, then quieter to me, "I forgot she was even here. But what do you mean, 'he married you'?"

"I mean, he said, 'I would like you to be my wife,' and I said, 'yes'."

"We didn't believe her either," Natasha interjected, "But we checked, she is definitely married to him, and has been ruling Asgard for two and a half months."

"What do you mean, 'you checked'?" I asked, angry and confused at the same time.

"Thor went to Asgard and asked Heimdall," she said.

"That's insulting," I said to her before turning back to Austin. "So there. Queen of Asgard. Hello," I waved a little.

"So wait, all the movies are true?" He asked.

"Not entirely. Think of every villain from every Marvel movie," I said to him.

"Okay."

"Now picture all of them working together in a secret plan to destroy the heroes and take over the world."

"Okay."

"That's the truth. None of the villains really died. I actually just lost my husband to Red Skull."

"What?"

"Loki has joined the Alliance of Villains," I said simply, "And I refused."

"And you want Peter to help you fight them," A girl's voice said from the hallway, and Mary Jane stood in the doorway in a pink nightgown and slippers, her red hair under attack by serious bed head.

"Yes. Some of the villains are his, after all."

"He went on a police run," she said, "He should be back soon." She turned around and went back to bed.

"She was up late working last night," Austin said, and I nodded, half listening. I had heard a _thump_ on the balcony.

Peter walked through the sliding door, taking off his mask and shutting the door quietly. He turned around, and froze when he saw Natasha and me. I smiled as he stared from Austin to me and back to Austin, a look of horror on his face.

I stood up and outstretched my hand. "Mr. Parker, I am Ashley, Of Asgard, and this is Agent Natasha Romanoff," she nodded, and he shook my hand. "We are here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.? I thought they shut down?" He asked.

"Most of them. We have a problem, Peter, a problem that involves you," I quickly and as best I could went over what happened in the last few days, from Venom's attack to Loki joining the villains.

"Oh, wow, okay," Peter said, and I moved aside so he could go collapse on the couch. "Well, now I know why it's been so quiet lately."

I laughed. Then, I looked at him seriously. "Will you help us? It's not only the major villains, but they have hundreds of people helping them."

"How many heroes?"

"If the Fantastic Four agree, 13, I believe."

"14," Natasha said. I looked at her, confused. "Oh, you're saying you're not helping?"

I looked out the window. "I- Natasha, I don't know. I can't fight against Loki. How can I fight him and then go home and sleep in the same bed as him?"

Everyone in the room had the same disgusted look on their face. It was quite funny.

"I- I don't know how to respond to that," Natasha stammered.

I laughed. "No, seriously, I have to get Loki to stop before he gets too immersed in this revenge fetish of his again."

"Okay," Austin said, getting up and going into the kitchen.

"Had enough of talking about your ex-girlfriend's husband?" Natasha shouted after him, and I giggled.

Austin's head popped back into the living room long enough for him to growl, "We weren't dating," and then he was gone again.

"He gets very defensive when people mention our non-existent relationship," I explained, and turned back to Peter. "Will you come back to Avengers Tower with us?"

"Yeah, I guess," He went into the other room, and I heard him and MJ talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying. A minute later, he came back out. "Okay, let's go."

We walked through the kitchen to go to the door, and Austin was leaned against the doorframe, staring at me expectantly. It took me a minute to figure out what he wanted.

"Oh- fine, you can come. You can see the BS that happened to my brother."

"_What?_" He shouted again, but I just smiled and pushed him out the door.

We got back to the Tower about 3:30, and I laughed at the amazed look on Austin's face as we stepped off the elevator onto the 92nd floor. I walked over to the whiteboard and erased the question mark next to 'Spiderman', and noticed the question marks next to the Fantastic Four's names were also gone. _Excellent,_ I thought, _now we just need Wilson and Rhodey._ I walked back over to Austin, who was staring wide-eyed and mouth agape at the Avengers out on the patio. I pushed his jaw shut with my hand and walked over to the couch, where my brother was sitting. I walked up behind him, and noticed he was twisting his hands in front of his face. There was a ball of paper floating in front of him, and it was _on fire_.

I groaned. "Jeremy..." I said, creating a bubble of magic around the paper, "You can't burn the place down."

"I'm not going to! I've got it under control!" He said, and the ball fizzled out and dissolved inside my bubble, which I let pop.

"Who's that?" I heard Steve say as the superheroes all walked back into the room. It had started to drizzle outside. They made a circle around Austin and me, which made me a bit uncomfortable. Steve was pointing at Austin, who was practically shaking. I smiled a little.

"This is my friend, Austin, who also happens to have become Peter Parker's roommate. Austin, the Avengers."

Austin made a little noise in his throat, and then stared at me.

"You can talk to them. They don't bite, so far as I've found out."

"Uhhh, hi," Austin said, and they all just stared at him.

After a minute, Steve finally said hello, which seemed to give the rest of them reason to greet him. Then the group dispersed, Natasha, Clint, Thor, Bruce, Peter, and Tony going to the monitors to start battle preparations, Steve talking to a freaked out Austin, and Jeremy resuming his fireball thing. I shrugged and decided to go back to my room and take a shower.

It felt nice to use pressurized water after two months of baths. I found a fresh outfit-still black yoga pants and a black tank top, but with new socks- in the dresser, and I wrapped my hair in a towel and sat on the edge of the bed. After I got my hair dried as much as I could, I went back upstairs, and was excited to see Sam Wilson and James Rhodes standing in the room.

"Ah, there you are," I heard Tony say, and looked over to him. "I didn't even notice you had these two on the list. Ashley, meet Sam and Rhodey," he said, and I shook hands with both of them.

"We'd be happy to help," Sam said.

"Absolutely. Ain't no way they're destroying this city again," Rhodey said, and I laughed.

"Had your fill of that?" I asked. We made small talk for a minute, until we were all cut off by a familiar bitching from the elevator.

I recognized her voice without even turning around, so I simply looked at Tony and said, "Really? You _had_ to call my mother?"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

[AN: Surprise! Another crossover fic has been created with this one, written by user potterheadfanboy, called "My Friendly Neighborhood Roommate!" Please read!]

"What was I supposed to do? You and your brother are minors!" Tony shouted.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" My mother said sarcastically, and I turned around calmly.

"Mom."

Jeremy got off the couch and she hugged him while we continued our stare-down. After a minute of everyone else staring awkwardly at us, she said, "I hope you realize how much trouble you're in."

"Actually, I do not," I said, making sure to talk like Loki- sarcasm and faux politeness dripping off every word. "Care to explain?"

"Why are you talking like that?" She asked.

I didn't say anything. Instead, I waited until Jeremy said what I knew he was going to say: "Ashley married Loki."

She stared at me wide-eyed for a solid minute, and then slapped me across the face.

"Gee, love you too, mother," I glared at her, rubbing my jaw.

"You are a child!" She screamed.

"And now I am a queen!" I screamed back.

"Okay, so where is my new son-in-law? Why don't I get to meet him?"

"Well, we were coming to see you three days ago, but got intercepted. That's how I ended up here. And Loki has gone on another revenge hunt."

"What?"

"He joined the other villains in an attempt to defeat us," Tony said.

"Oh, I bet you're so glad you married him, aren't you?" My mother asked, and I shook my head.

"Well, mom, when he's not pursuing vengeance, he is a very sweet person."

There was a unanimous scoff throughout the room.

"Was I talking to any of you?" I shouted, and they all went back to their business.

"And why is he here?" Mom asked, pointing at Jeremy, who tried to shrink back.

"Apparently there was an accident of sorts. I was unconscious for it," Mom looked to Jeremy, and I said, "Show her."

Jeremy created a ball of fire with his hands, and Mom jumped away from it.

"Any other questions?" I asked, letting my annoyance show, and she stared at me accusingly.

"This is all _your_ fault."

"Thanks, mom."

"Let's go. Both of you. We're going home," She turned around to go back to the elevator, but neither Jeremy nor I moved.

"Okay, you two go. But good luck controlling your sons' powers," I crossed my arms over my chest as she turned back.

She groaned. "Okay, you know how to control them?" She asked.

"No," I said, "but if Loki can find the Chitauri that did this to him, maybe he can tell us, or even reverse it."

"But we have to find Loki first," Steve said, walking up next to my mother. "Ma'am, just give us a few more days. We will find Loki, reverse what they did to Jeremy, and get Loki to reverse what he did to Ashley."

"What did he do to Ashley?" My mom asked.

"Whoa, you don't have to look concerned," I scoffed. She glared at me, so I shrugged and created four copies of myself around the real me. She gasped, and all the mes laughed. Then, I dissolved the illusions and made my sword materialize in my hand. "Impressed yet?" I asked, spinning it around like a baton. I dropped it onto the floor, and it dissolved. "But, Steve, it's not reversible. He mixed his blood with mine. Remember the other day, I turned blue? He made me a Jötunn."

"What the hell do you mean you're a Jötunn?" Austin asked, and I jumped a little. My mom jumped a lot. I had forgotten he was here.

"What is he doing here?" Mom asked, pointing at Austin.

Austin said something to my mom, but I had my eyes closed and was ignoring them. I was focusing on turning blue again, just to show them. My mother's scream told me it worked. I opened my eyes, looked at Austin and my mom's stunned expressions, and laughed.

"It's not reversible, Steve," I said, and I rubbed my hands together, creating a little snowball between my palms, which I threw at my brother.

"Hey!" He screamed, and I laughed as he brushed little bits of frost off of himself.

"Ma'am, we can give you a room to sleep in for a few days while we find Loki," Tony said to my mother, and he chauffeured her and my brother onto the elevator before she could say anything else.

"Whoa," Rhodey made a half-laughing, half coughing noise in his throat.

"Yeah, I know," I nodded, and walked over to the monitors, where an argument had ensued:

Natasha: "Why would they stay in the same city they plan on destroying?!"

Clint: "They don't care! I say we force her to tell us where they are! She obviously knows!"

Natasha: "We should just go back to SoHo, where we found her, and start searching."

Thor: "That will take far too long. Loki most likely has a plan already. He will not wait for us to find him."

Clint: "Make her tell us!"

Natasha: "How do you plan on doing that?"

That's when I decided to butt in. "He wants to torture me," I stated simply, not giving them room to deny it, and walked to the map of Manhattan on one monitor. "So, we're here," I pointed at Midtown, "and they're here," I pointed at SoHo. "That puts four miles between us. I think they are going to take the most time finding a way up here. I mean, they're not going to shove all of HYDRA into a cab, are they?" I earned a small chuckle from the group.

"So what are you saying?" Clint asked. "They're still coming. We need to know where they are."

I sighed and looked at the floor. Clint grabbed both my shoulders and pushed against me, throwing my head up. He leaned in, his face only inches from mine, and I could see how strained his eyes looked. An image suddenly flashed into my mind of Clint, his usually brown eyes glossy and light blue, shooting at his allies in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, under the control of Loki. Now, he looked stressed to breaking, and his eyes darted around frantically, searching my face for any giveaway. Finally, I met his gaze square on and sighed again. He let go of me.

I looked around at everybody, who were all in a big circle around Clint and me, and said, "Promise me one thing: none of you, under any circumstances, are to hurt Loki. He is the one obsessed with revenge, not any of you. But I want you to swear to me that no harm will come to him. Then I will tell you where they are."

"Fine," Steve growled.

The rest of the group nodded reluctantly, and I turned back to the map. I tapped SoHo, bringing up another map showing the streets. I pointed to the corner where the building was, and said, "It's an abandoned shop that they turned into a giant underground headquarters."

The superheroes all started bustling around frantically, and Jane, Pepper, and I got pushed away from the monitors. All of them were talking at once, so we had no idea what they were saying. The three of us went to the couch and they sat down, looking a little let down to be left out, but I started pacing back and forth in front of them until Jane tripped me.

"Stop it," she hissed.

"I can't believe you even said that," Pepper said to me as I stood up off the floor. "You know they're not going to keep their promise. They all despise Loki."

"I realize that."

"Then why did you say it?" Jane asked.

"I'm grabbing at straws," I said, collapsing onto the couch next to Jane. "I'm so desperate right now; I'm trying to make deals with the Avengers. They called my _mom _on me!" I shouted.

I jumped back up and went to pace somewhere Jane couldn't see me. Then, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around to see Austin standing there, looking very uncomfortable.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, and he gave me a sad half smile.

"I-I'm going back to my apartment. It- this is all so..."

"Overwhelming?"

"Yeah."

"You never even told me why you moved out here," I said, and he shrugged.

"Dad's job transferred him here. Somehow, Brendan managed to convince Mom to let me get my own apartment. He said living on my own might be good for me."

"Wow," I said, honestly surprised that his brother would stick up for him like that. He hated Austin. "And you ended up living with Spider-Man."

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, I can take you back..." I started but he cut me off.

"No, you need to help them. I got to meet Captain America," he said, awestruck, and I laughed. He shook his head a little and said, "Just come visit me. Bring Loki so I can meet him," we both laughed.

I hugged him. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too. Stay safe," he said, and he walked to the elevator. I watched until he got on and the door shut, and then I had a horrible feeling that I would never see him again.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

"Loki," I gasped, running into him and throwing my arms around his waist, burying my head in his chest. He rubbed my back with one hand and played with my hair with the other.

"I have been trying to get to you all day!" He exclaimed. "I tried to just talk to you, but could not get through. What happened? I went to Asgard looking for you, and Heimdall said you went back with the Avengers."

"I got intercepted again," I looked up at him. "Where are you right now?"

"On Asgard. I did tell them I would go back to them tomorrow, and I thought I would come get you. Are you alright?"

"Oh, you know, just plotting to take down your new allies."

"You are helping them?"

"To a point," I said, and he could tell I was lying, but he didn't push it.

"They are planning to attack tomorrow," Loki said. "You and I will come back here. Yes?"

My head was reeling with thoughts, but I just nodded and said, "Alright. I love you."

He smiled. "I love you, too."

"They called my mom on me," I threw in, "And she wants to meet you."

"What?"

I laughed. "My mother wants to meet you. She might slap you like she did me, but I don't know."

"Your mother slapped you?"

"Yep," I said, and then I reached up and kissed him. "See you tomorrow."

"Yes," He kissed my forehead.

Loki dissolved and I sat up on the couch. It was dark, with only a little light coming from the LED lights on the bar, but I was able to see good enough to stumble my way up the stairs to the kitchenette/bar. I found a digital clock on the counter that said 2:45am. I sighed, grabbed a package of Pop Tarts off the counter, and went down to my room.

At seven o'clock I went back up to the main room, not getting anymore sleep, and found that nobody else could sleep very well. I told them that there was going to be an attack today, and they interrogated me about how I knew until I was forced to reveal Loki's dream visits. Before anybody could say anything about them, though, the Fantastic Four walked off the elevator, saving me from another lecture.

"Ah, good, perfect timing," I said, walking over to shake their hands. "My name is Ashley, I..."

"Oh, she's the one that you said is double crossing you?" Susan asked Natasha, who groaned.

"Of course," I muttered, walking away. I heard Reed say something, so I turned back around. I saw that he was following me across the room while Susan, Johnny, and Ben were talking with the Avengers. I noticed poor Peter was standing around, looking as alone and awkward as ever, before I looked back at Reed. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I said I'm sorry about Susan. She's grown very... crass," He chose his words carefully, as if she stood right behind him.

I laughed a little. "They've been saying stuff like that all week."

I walked with Reed back over to the others, and said to the whole group, "Okay, as I was saying before, Loki told me that the villains are planning an attack today. That's all he said," I added, seeing Steve open his mouth to protest. "I don't know when, or where, but I know it's going to be today."

"That's not very helpful," Susan said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I've known you for two minutes and already hate you," I snapped at her, and she shot me a dirty look.

"Okay, there's not going to be any fighting here. We are all allies, right?" Natasha said, looking at me. I nodded quickly, maybe a little too quickly, because she looked at me funny.

"Okay, my best guess is they're going to try and attack here, so if we get out of here and go somewhere remote, maybe they'll follow us and we can keep the number of civilian casualties to a minimum," Rhodey said, looking at a map of the state. He pointed to the little island of Manhattan with the 'You Are Here' symbol on it, and then pointed at the island of Brooklyn south of Manhattan. "In the southern part of Brooklyn there's a big open cliff area. If we can get them to follow us up there, maybe we can keep the fighting there."

"What are you going to do, tell them we're going on a field trip?" I asked, looking at the Google Maps route. "Besides, that's a hell of a walking distance."

"We wouldn't walk anyway," Natasha said. "There's a helicopter on the roof for a reason."

"And _we're_ not going to tell them anything," Tony said, "You are."

Everybody looked at me expectantly, like they all had the same thought in their head.

"So, you want me to play messenger, go tell them to meet you in Brooklyn, and then have a big battle on a cliff?"

There was a chorus of "Yes!" and "Exactly!"

"Alright, fine," I said, and started walking to the elevator.

"Well, wait!" Natasha shouted. "You need a way to communicate," she fastened a Bluetooth to my left ear, which beeped, and then I heard her say, "Testing, can you hear me?"

I reached up and pressed a button on the side. "Loud and clear," I said.

"Okay, now you can go, just press that button when you get there so we can hear you."

"Okay," I said, and then got on the elevator.

I walked as fast as I could to SoHo, thinking about what I was going to say to get them to follow me. I came to the realization that I was going to have to prove Susan right; I was going to double cross them.

I took a deep breath as I walked up to the door of the "abandoned" shop. I was surprised to find the door handle unlocked, and slipped inside, shutting the door quietly behind me. I clicked the button on my Bluetooth; made sure my hair covered it good, then ran down the stairs as quickly and quietly as I could, and walked onto the catwalk overlooking the whole room. It took a minute for someone to notice me, but once one person pointed up at me, after about 30 seconds, I had the whole room's attention. Schmidt, Osborn, and Doctor Octavius pushed their way up to the front of the crowd.

"Hey, Doctor Octopus! Cool," I shouted, gaining a slight laughter in the room.

"Why have you returned?" Osborn barked, and I looked at him.

"I've changed my mind after being taken yet again by the heroes. They do not trust me, so I decided to take away any other reason for them to. I did overhear their plans, though," I added, which definitely piqued their interest. "They are going to Brooklyn today, trying to find a new place to build another tower, I believe. You can attack them there and wipe all of them out while they are unsuspecting."

"Interesting..." Schmidt said, rubbing his hideously red chin. "Come down here. Back to preparing!" He shouted at the rest of the room, who immediately went back to what they were doing.

I walked down the stairs and met up with them. Schmidt and Osborn stood directly across from me, while Octavius stood behind me, blocking me from the stairs.

"So, you are here completely on your own wishes? You've had no contact from Loki?" Osborn asked.

"He's not here?" I lied, and they both shook their heads.

"He went looking for you," Octavius said.

"Oh, well, no, I never heard from him."

"Hmmm, well, in that case, Otto, go ahead," Schmidt nodded, and Octavius grabbed both my arms with two of his spider-arms.

"What the hell?" I screamed as he lifting me off the floor. I kicked my legs, but they all stayed far away from me.

"You were so against us only yesterday, why do you think we're stupid enough to believe you now?" Schmidt asked.

"I... Uh... Hey!" I screamed as one of Octavius's other arms yanked the Bluetooth out of my ear.

"Oh, hello, Avengers!" Schmidt said as he took the radio. "We have a hostage now. We will meet you in Brooklyn at four," he snarled into the speaker, then threw it on the floor and crushed it under his boot.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

At four, I found myself being marched down a hill by two HYDRA soldiers, my arms bound behind my back and my mouth gagged. Loki still hadn't come back, and I was starting to get worried.

As we made it to the bottom of the hill, the soldiers stopped me a few feet behind Schmidt. I don't know what the villains call it, but the heroes would've called it "suiting up" when they all grabbed their various suits and capes and other things I wasn't paying attention to. I had spent two hours trying to break the zip tie off my wrists, only resulting in two deep gashes, one of which was bleeding a little.

The heroes and villains were lined up in a comical old-fashioned western-standoff formation, with all the HYDRA soldiers behind the villains.

On the heroes' side: Captain America; Iron Man; Hawkeye; Black Widow; Thor; Banner, who had not hulked out yet; Iron Patriot; Falcon; Spiderman; Mr. Fantastic; Invisible Woman; The Human Torch; and The Thing.

For the villains: Red Skull; Green Goblin; Doctor Doom; Sandman; Venom; Doctor Octopus; Whiplash; The Silver Surfer; Abomination; and at least 200 HYDRA soldiers behind them. Oh, and Loki, wherever he was.

"You send a child to try and deceive us?" Schmidt asked them, and I rolled my eyes.

"It worked didn't it?" Tony snapped. "You came."

"Where's Ashley?" Natasha asked.

Octavius grabbed me with one of his arms and dangled me in front of them.

There was an "Oh my God" from a couple of people, but nobody said anything else, because the Bifrost light crashed down right between the two lines of people, and then it was total chaos.

Nobody knew who was firing at whom, but there were gunshots, blasts of light, streaks of lightning, and a lot of screaming. I was dropped to the ground, and rolled away as fast as I could before I was grabbed again. I tried to fight before I realized it was Loki who grabbed me. He broke the zip tie off my hands like it was made of butter, and I pulled the cloth out of my mouth, spitting a little.

"Where the hell have you been?" I shouted over the commotion.

"I was... busy," he said, and I jumped at him, pushing him to the ground as Cap's shield flew right where his head was.

I pushed off of him, pulling out my sword and materializing my armor onto me, the silver sparkling in the harsh sunlight. I looked over at Loki, who also had his golden battle armor on, and smiled. "For Asgard," I said, holding my sword in the ready stance.

"For Asgard," he answered, and together, we ran into the combat.

I lost track of Loki at some point, but when I stabbed my sword through the stomach of the fourth HYDRA soldier I came across, I found a more pressing matter to attend to. Apparently the heroes had decided to bring my brother along, because there he was, shooting random blasts of fire at people.

"JEREMY!" I screamed, slamming into him and knocking him to the ground while simultaneously creating a bubble of magic around us. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help!" He shouted innocently.

"How did you get mom to let you come?"

"Um, I didn't ask her," he said, sounding ashamed.

"Damn it, go back to the helicopter," I said, which I realized was sitting on the hill a little ways away.

"No!" He shouted. "I can help!"

"No! You're going to get hurt!"

"I'm fine!" He screamed, pushing into my bubble until the illusion dissolved. He jumped and ran away before I could grab him.

"Damn it," I said again, jumping up and slashing into the soldier that was running at me.

I looked around wildly, knowing I couldn't leave Jeremy alone. The most fighting he had ever done was in video games, so he was destined to get hurt out here, and I couldn't let that happen. But there was so much dust building up from the dirt covered side of the cliff, I could barely see two feet in front of me.

I fought my way through the crowd of bloodshed, my sword growing redder and my muscles growing more tired as I went, and didn't see any sign of my brother. I was starting to fear the worst when I saw him standing over a black mass on the ground. I ran up to him and had to suppress a scream. Lying there on the ground was Steve, nearly unconscious, his entire torso covered in blood.

"Oh no..." I groaned, using my magic to make a bubble around him, which I lifted gingerly off the ground. He moaned in pain as I looked at Jeremy and said, "Come on," and then we both took off for the helicopter.

We ran up the ramp and I lowered Steve to the floor before I realized that there were more people inside. Hill looked up at me, kneeling between two more bodies on the floor: Clint and Peter. Peter's entire suit was torn apart, his mask hanging in shreds from his mauled face. Clint had one of his own arrows protruding from his right shoulder.

"Oh gods," I whispered. Then I noticed Sam sitting in one of the seats, his Falcon suit in a mangled heap on the floor next to him, his left arm in a sling. "Maria," I said, and she looked at me expectantly, "bring them outside. I'm going to take them to Asgard. Our healers can help them."

She nodded, and carefully we took all three of them outside, Sam trudging behind us. I looked up at the sky, but the Bifrost opened before I opened my mouth. When we landed inside the gold dome, there were a dozen guards waiting with Heimdall.

"Take these four to the healing room," I said to the guards, who nodded and obeyed without a word. "Maria, you come back to Earth. Heimdall, if anymore of them get hurt, will you please bring them here and send them to the healers?"

"Yes, My Queen. It is good to have you back," he added, and I smiled.

"Thank you," I said, and turned back to face the arch, which was already spinning to send us off. I looked over at my brother, who had his mouth wide open, and said, "shut your mouth, it's rude." He closed his mouth quickly.

The Bifrost sucked us back through and I took off running back to the fight as soon as we landed. I saw bodies lying all over the place, but none of them looked like any of the heroes, so I didn't stop. It occurred to me what a horrible person I had become, but I kept running.

I ran through a cloud of dust and straight into a huge fight between Doctor Octopus, Whiplash, Doctor Doom, Susan, Reed, and Johnny. From my angle, it looked really strange for the Fantastic Four to be fighting other villains, but I pushed the thought aside and threw my sword over their heads, impaling one of Octavius's mechanical arms. The sword dissolved and I pulled it back out immediately, just as another one of his arms came at my head. I started slashing at the three arms left, and smiled a little when I felt my skin turning blue. I looked down and saw my fingers were completely frozen over. I looked back up just as he swung two arms at me at once. I dropped my sword and grabbed both of them, freezing them over.

"What the hell?" He screamed as I threw his now immobilized arms over his head, throwing him to the ground. His head slammed into the ground and his eyes rolled back.

I turned around to see Reed and Johnny panting and holding Susan over their shoulders. Whiplash was on the ground with his whip wrapped around his neck, and Doctor Doom was unconscious also.

"Take her to the helicopter, she will be taken to the healers on Asgard," I said to Reed, and him and Johnny ran off.

That's when I heard Jeremy scream. I wasn't sure if it was him at first, but as I ran toward the sound, it became obvious. When I was five feet away, I stopped dead in my tracks. He screamed my name again, and turned to see me standing behind him, giving me a perfect view of the green and golden coat of the person he was knelt next to. I dropped my sword and fell to my knees, crawling the last five feet to Loki and stopping right to the right of his head. His eyes were closed, and he was gasping for breaths, and had blood pooling around him. Jeremy got up and backed away from us. I grabbed his hand from his chest and his eyes snapped open.

"Shh, it's okay," I whispered, caressing his cheek with my still-blue fingers. "I'm going to get you back to Asgard, sweetie, just hang on," I said, and I pulled my hands away to use my magic.

He reached up weakly and grabbed my hand back, shaking his head slowly. He opened his mouth to say something, but coughed, and blood came dribbling out the corner of his mouth. I wiped it away and squeezed his hand.

"Let me take you home," I said more sternly this time. He shook his head again.

"Too... late..." He whispered, wheezing with each shallow breath.

"You are not dying," I cried. "Loki, you have faked your death twice already. I cannot- I _will _not- believe you are actually dying!"

"I-I love... you... Ashley, I am sorry..."

"I can't run Asgard by myself!" I sobbed. "Let me take you to the healers!"

He shook his head for a third time, and I didn't know whether to cry harder or slap him.

Suddenly, there was a low rumbling sound that seemed to reverberate all around the cliff we were on. Then, the entire outcropping shook. I heard giant chucks of rock falling into the bay beneath us. I had never witnessed an earthquake before, but I assumed that's what it felt like.

I heard Jeremy calling my name from behind me, but I was too focused on how I was going to get Loki out of there to hear what he was saying. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and stood up, creating another bubble around Loki. He waved his hand and destroyed it, and then pulled me back down.

"Go," he hissed, clutching at his chest with his other hand. He pulled me down to him with whatever strength he had left and kissed me, and then let his head fall back against the ground. He took one last shaky, gasping breath, and his eyelids drooped shut.

"LOKI!" I screamed, cupping his now chalky-gray face with my hands. "Don't do this to me!"

The ground started to shake again as I pulled his lifeless body by both his arms away from the edge of the cliff. I could have sworn we weren't that close to it a minute ago, but as I heard more rocks splashing into the water, I realized the entire cliff was going to fall into the water. I tripped backwards over a rock and fell flat on my back, Loki's hands awkwardly thrown over his head. I stood back up, tears running in a steady stream from my eyes, and tried to create a bubble around him, but I was too upset and weak. I knelt down above him and kissed his cold forehead, sobbing. The rumbling sound grew louder, but mixed into the noise, I heard the heroes behind me, screaming at me to get out of there.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to nobody in particular.

I felt the ground shake harder, and I looked down to see it literally splitting under my feet. I glanced back at the people shouting my name, but my eyes were too clouded over to see anything. So I just stayed put, shut my eyes, and prepared to fall over the edge.

But it never happened. Just as the rumbling slowed, I took a deep breath, and felt someone wrap their arms around my waist and squeeze. He pulled me away from the split, holding me tight. I kicked and screamed and tried to fight away, but the person had too good of a hold on me. I snapped my eyes open just in time to see the whole cliff fall into the water, taking Loki with it, before the Bifrost light blocked my view and took me worlds away from him.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"_Let me go back_!" I screamed, kicking at the person holding me, who let go and let me fall to my hands and knees onto the cold floor of the Bifrost. I looked up and saw it was Thor, who was covered in little cuts and bruises, but otherwise unharmed. He did have a hurt expression on his face. "Please! I have to go back for him!"

"Ashley!" Natasha ran up and pulled me to my feet. I swayed, and she grabbed my shoulders, steadying me. "Ashley, he's gone!"

"The entire cliff is gone," Heimdall said.

I looked up at him. "He's not dead," I whispered, letting my head fall back down. I backed away from Natasha and looked around. Thor, Natasha, Jeremy and I were the only ones who came up. "W-where is everybody?"

"Steve, Clint, Sam, Peter, Susan, and Johnny are all with healers," Thor said, and my head spun.

"Tony, Rhodey, Reed, Ben, and Maria took most of the villains back to Avengers Tower before the cliff collapsed," Natasha added.

"Most?" I asked.

"Some escaped," she sighed.

"And Doctor Banner?" I asked.

"I have no idea," she admitted.

I sniffed, and then looked down at my clothes. My battle armor had dissolved, and I was back to the black tank top and yoga pants. I took a deep breath and created an illusion of my gray robes until I could actually go back to my room and put them on.

"Are you three hurt?" I asked them. Jeremy was staring amazed at my new outfit, but all three of them shook their heads. "Good. Let's go up to the palace and check on the others. I will have the guards find you two sleeping arrangements for the night, Thor, you... whatever," I shook my head and quickly walked out onto the bridge. I had to keep mentally reminding myself that I was still Queen until Thor decided to take the title away from me, and people were looking to me for strength, so I couldn't be crying. But I couldn't help it. Even though I kept saying he faked his death again, I couldn't stop thinking; _What if he really is dead?_

I pushed the thought away and looked around at the stars. They were truly gorgeous, even if they seemed to be shining just a bit too bright, given the circumstances...

_Damn it, Ashley, they're stars; they don't know Loki just died! _A little voice in my head mentally shouted at me.

_He's not dead! _I shouted back.

_Saying that won't bring him back._

_ The little shit faked it again. That's all, _I thought firmly, ending the mental argument.

We finally arrived at the palace, which seemed to take a lot longer than usual, and were greeted with shouts and cries of joy. Citizens who heard about what happened had gathered around the palace gates to see if we were okay. As we walked by, I nodded and shook hands, but I didn't hear a word anyone said until I felt someone shake my shoulder. I looked back and saw Sif standing there, her face full of concern.

"My Queen, where is Loki?" She asked.

"Lady Sif, please inform the city that I will be making an address later tonight. I will explain everything that happened," I said, and she nodded, and then turned around and walked away quickly.

As soon as the four of us were inside the gates, they were shut tight behind us, shutting off the commotion. My head was pounding and my ears were ringing as we entered the palace foyer. I let Thor lead the way up to the healers' room so I didn't get us lost. When we got up to the door, it sounded like a party was going on.

We walked in the door and found all six of them that were brought up here were up and sipping on drinks and chattering away. As soon as I walked in the healers bowed, and I walked up to the lead healer.

"How are they?" I asked.

"Fine, ma'am. Nobody suffered any permanent injuries, and we were able to heal all of them without trouble," she said happily.

"Good. Thank you," I said, and she nodded. I walked back out of the room, leaving them to their happy victory. There were four guards in the hallway, and I stopped them as they were walking by. "If you could, please, I have guests staying here tonight, if you could find them beds to sleep in. There are five men and two women; they can sleep in the same rooms respectively. Also, if you could have an extra bed sent up to my room, for my brother. Thor will be in his own room."

"Yes, My Queen. Right away," one of them said, and they all bowed and marched down the hallway.

"It must be nice having all this power," I heard my brother say behind me.

"See," I started, turning around, "I do like it, but I'm trying not to abuse it. I don't want to turn into a dictator."

"Like Loki."

I didn't answer him. "I just try to show them the respect they deserve. And it's honestly really hard having servants. You know me, I don't like people touching my stuff, but if I try to clean or do anything, they freak out," I started walking down the hall to the throne room, and motioned for Jeremy to follow.

"But it must be nice not having to clean and cook," he argued. He was always lazy. I was the OCD organizer in the house.

"Up until this point, no, it really wasn't. Unless Loki was out somewhere, I wasn't needed in the throne room, so once I got back from my morning run, I had nothing to do all day except read, practice magic, or train in the arena."

"You sound like this has been your life forever. Ash, you know it's only been two and a half months, right?"

A few guards walking by gave him a wary look when he called me by my nickname, but I shook my head and they walked on. "Yes, I realize that," I said, "it just feels like longer. Loki makes me feel so at home, so... _wanted_; I just feel like this is where I've been my whole life."

We made it to the throne room, and after making a big deal of bowing to me and then questioning me about Jeremy, the two guards opened the door, and whatever Jeremy was going to say next was lost in the gasp he made when he saw the beautiful room. I smiled to all the servants as they stopped what they were doing and bowed as I walked to the throne. Instead of sitting on the throne, however, I sat down on the steps in front of it and patted the floor for Jeremy to sit next to me.

"What now?" He asked as he sat cross-legged beside me.

"I have to prepare a speech, I suppose," I sighed, and looked down at my lap. "And go put on my _actual _robes."

"How did you do the thing earlier where you had the silver armor?"

"It's an illusion that I can make semi-permanent while I'm fighting. Loki didn't explain exactly how it works, but when my heart rate goes down, the illusion fades. My sword is kind of the same. When I pull it out, I can use it perfectly, but as soon as it leaves my hand, it dissolves."

"Cool," he whispered.

"Yeah. I should go change. Come on, I'll show you our chambers. They should have set up a bed set up for you."

We stood up and walked the winding labyrinth up to our chambers. I walked in and gasped when I saw the living room. Every piece of furniture was in a different place, and hastily put there, like someone had ripped through the place looking for something and had not bothered to put anything back where it belonged. There was a servant coming out of the spare bedroom, and I stopped her.

"What happened in here?"

"Um, King Loki was in a bit of a fit, ma'am, and he sort of tore the place apart, and we haven't gotten to putting all the furniture back in its original position," She said, looking a little ashamed.

"Oh, that's alright, it just looked like there was a burglary. There is no rush."

"It will be done tonight, ma'am," she said, curtsied, and walked out of the room quickly.

"Oh, Loki," I sighed, lifting the couch up with my magic and straightening it out. As I walked to the bedroom door, I straightened all four of the bookcases, and then pulled open the door to our bedroom. I turned around to Jeremy, said, "Give me a minute," and shut the door behind me.

I changed out of the torn-apart tank top and pants, throwing them in the bathroom garbage, and into my gray robes, tying the silver ribbon loose around my waist and not even bothering to weave the small ribbons through my hair. I simply brushed my hair out and left it alone. I went back out to Jeremy, throwing my brand new, now muddied up and ripped sneakers on the floor by the door, and pulled on my knee-high leather boots.

Jeremy stood up off the couch and we went out into the hallway, following the twisting hallway out onto a balcony that was over the entrance that overlooked the courtyard between the palace and the gates. This courtyard was packed full of people. One of the guards on the balcony brought Jeremy a chair, and had him sit off to the side where he couldn't be seen by the public.

_I cannot believe I am about to wing a speech to the Asgardian public, _I thought, feeling my face flush. I took a deep breath and stepped up to the railing. All the chattering that had been going on ceased immediately, and everyone stared up at me. I inhaled deeply through my nose and scanned the crowd, trying to think of something sophisticated to say to start off with.

"Good evening," I said, and immediately wanted to smack myself, "Thank you all for gathering here this late. I will keep this short for you, I just felt you all deserve to know why your king and queen have been gone for five days.

"Loki and I went to Midgard for me to introduce him to my family. When we arrived, we were taken as prisoners by the Avengers, a group of Midgardian heroes who dislike Loki with all of their existence. A lot of small things happened, I will spare you the details, but Loki ended up, on day three of us being on Midgard, joining a group of Midgardian criminals trying to kill the Avengers and a few other heroes. I refused their offer to join, but when I was on my way back here, I was taken prisoner again by the heroes. I ended up helping them devise a battle strategy to stop the villains. It worked, for the most part, resulting in minimal casualties on both sides. I say minimal with a heavy heart, because one of those casualties was Loki," There was an apprehensive murmur from the crowd. "Yes, I understand exactly, you do not believe he is dead either. The Avengers say he is dead, but you all know exactly what Loki is like. I believe he faked his death once again, because that seems like something he would do, is it not?" The crowd murmured in agreement. "Yes, so this is why I am not planning a memorial service until I have solid proof he is not coming back.

"That being said, I plan on returning to Midgard tomorrow to search for his body. I understand this will take a while, but I will try my best to find him, and if I do not succeed, I will plan a funeral. Until then, I am going to go off the belief that he lives.

"Thank you all for coming out here tonight. Have a good night," I nodded as an end, and turned around quickly, practically running back into the palace.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

We all trudged to the Bifrost in silence, nobody sleeping very good that night, and everyone in pain from the battle the day before. Every so often, someone would peek up at someone else, and then let his eyes fall quickly when he was caught staring.

I had lain down that night, tried to curl up, and ended up sobbing half the night into Loki's pillows. I lay with them practically suffocating me, breathing in every last whiff of his scent before it faded away. A part of me- that small little voice in the back of my head- knew that we weren't going to find a body. Finally I had fallen asleep just as the sun was starting to show its first few faint rays, resulting in only about two hours of sleep.

Heimdall let us down a few blocks from Avengers Tower, where we quickly explained what happened to my mother, who was pissed, and updated Tony, Rhodey, Reed, Ben, and Maria. Apparently when Bruce had calmed down he came back to the tower, because they said he was asleep in his room.

When I told them I was seriously going to look for his body, they all stared at me like I was crazy. I probably was, too. Eventually, I gave up trying to convince them to help and left for Brooklyn by myself. I made it a few blocks before realizing I was being followed. I spun around quickly, ready to pull out my sword, but stopped when I saw Thor standing a few feet behind me, Mjolnir hung innocently from his belt.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Helping you look for my brother's body."

"Do _you_ believe he's dead?" I asked desperately.

"No. I think this is going to be a waste of time. But if you wish to look, I will go with you."

"Okay," I said, and we walked all the way back to where we fought the day before.

The entire cliff was indeed gone. Thor and I stood on the sidewalk and stared over the police caution tape down at the water. There was a huge crowd of tourists, news reporters, journalists with local papers, police, and search-and-rescue workers. I flagged one over, who gave Thor and me a very strange look because of our outfits.

"Excuse me, sir, have you found a body in a long, green, black, and gold coat?" I asked, and his look grew even stranger.

"No, can't say we have," he said, and then looked at Thor. "Wait a minute, you're Thor!" He shouted, and every single person turned to look at us. A loud, excited babbling rose from the crowd, and over it I could hear one of the reporters say:

"That's right, you heard correct, folks, this wreckage is courtesy of the Avengers! And if we can zoom in, we can see one of them, Thor, has returned with the mystery girl we saw fighting yesterday, the one the famous paper _the Daily Bugle_ has called 'Frostbite' because she was blue and freezing people yesterday! It appears she is back to her pale human skin color, but I can assure you, it's the same girl! Let's see if we can get closer and talk to them."

"_Frostbite?_" I asked as a woman who looked about 20 pushed her way through the crowd up to Thor and me. She had short brown hair with a pixie haircut, dark skin, and a ring in her nose, four diamond studs in her left ear, and three studs in her right ear. I looked from the microphone in her hand to the camera guy behind her, and asked again, "He called me Frostbite?"

"Yes ma'am, what do you think about that?" She asked, sticking her microphone under my nose.

"Uh... I- I don't know..." I stammered, leaned back a little so I didn't smack my jaw into it, "It's definitely more interesting than my real name."

"What other powers do you have, other than freezing people?" She asked.

I looked at her with one eyebrow raised, and said, "Um, I can create illusions, move things with my magic, and fight with a sword."

"Ooh, sword fighting is awesome!" I heard a little voice say next to me, and looked down to see a boy no more than six staring glassy-eyed from Thor to me. "Where are the other superheroes? Where's your sword? Shouldn't you keep it with you in case you get attacked?" His mom told him to be quiet, but I laughed and shook my head.

"No, it's okay, I do have my sword with me, it's just hidden," I said mysteriously, and the boy jumped up and down excitedly. I thought the reporter was going to, too.

"Where is it? Where is it?" He asked, practically screaming.

I laughed again. "I'll show you! I just need you to back up a little bit," I said, and the circle around Thor and I widened. I reached my left arm to my right hip like I had a sword holster, and then pulled out, my sword materializing in my hand.

There was an 'Ooh' from the crowd, and the boy made a little screech of joy.

"COOLCOOLCOOL!" He screamed.

I winked at him and dropped my sword. It dissolved before it hit the pavement, and the crowd gasped.

"What happened?" The reporter asked.

"Magic," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

That's when one of the police officers walked over. "Okay, show's over," he said, and the crowd went, 'Aww.' "You said it was you and the Avengers that did this?"

"Yes," Thor answered, standing up straighter. "Why?"

"You're going to have to pay for it. You damaged public property."

Every single person in the crowd looked over the caution tape and down to the sharp rocks below. One person shouted, "Can't damage what was never there!" and everybody laughed.

"I got it," a metallic voice groaned behind us, and Thor and I turned around to see Tony clanking up in his suit. He threw a wad of cash at the officer, and then said, "Is that fine?"

"Y-Yeah, yes, absolutely," the officer stuttered.

"Good. We'll be off, then," He said, and then he grabbed me back the back of my dress, and took off into the sky, Thor flying beside us.

"_Holy shit, Tony!_" I screamed at him as we rocketed back to Avengers Tower. When we got there, he dropped me above the long balcony and landed himself on his landing pad, which immediately started taking off his armor. "What the hell was that?" I screamed up at him. He walked inside, and I turned around and ran into the living room.

"What, were you onto something?" He asked, pointing at a TV in front of the couch that wasn't there two days ago, which was playing the "interview" with me. I realized that the little boy was wearing a little Captain America outfit.

"I have to go," I said, smoothing out my dress. "I will tell Heimdall that anytime you need me for anything, you will be allowed in Asgard. All of you. Thor, if you could come up later, I feel like we need to talk..."

"Yes," Thor nodded.

"... But if for some reason any of the rest of you needs me, you can come up there. Just let the guards at the gates know that I gave you permission. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go fight with my mother," I walked to the elevator, but just as I was going to push the button, it opened, and my mom and brother walked off. "Ah. Perfect timing."

"And why is that?" My mom asked, immediately becoming defensive.

"Because I wanted to say goodbye. I have a throne to uphold."

"Oh, we don't get to see it?" She asked almost skeptically.

"Do you not believe I'm Queen?"

"No," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine. Come along then. I will have Heimdall send you home afterwards."

"Fine," she said, and they got back on the elevator.

I turned back to the heroes. "It was fantastic meeting all of you. Thor, on second thought, come back now," I said, and he nodded, walking toward me. I waved goodbye to the rest of the group, who surprisingly waved back. Thor and I got on the elevator, and in silence we walked back to the spot where Heimdall opened the Bifrost before, and I took my mother to Asgard.

I thought she was going to throw up when she stumbled into the Bifrost. She was doubled over and breathing heavily. I just stared at her with my hands on my hips until she stood up, and then smiled as the color drained from her face when she saw the stars all around her.

"This is beautiful..." She sighed.

"Yeah, it is," I turned to Heimdall. "No doubt you heard what I told the Avengers?" I asked him.

"Yes, I did," He said, not taking his eyes off my mother.

"Good. Mom, I wish I had time to give you a tour, but Thor and I have business to attend to. Heimdall will send you back to the apartment."

"But, we were in New York!" She exclaimed.

"The Bifrost can send anyone anywhere in the Nine Realms," Heimdall growled.

"Goodbye, Jeremy. Goodbye, mom. I'll be seeing you later," I said, and Heimdall pushed his sword into the center consol, and my mother and brother were sucked into space.

I turned to Thor. "Shall we?" I asked.

"After you," he said, extending his arm for me to walk ahead of him. We walked together back up to the palace.


End file.
